


Hurting Each Other

by InkStainedHands1177



Category: Firefly, Serenity (2005)
Genre: Amoral River Tam, BAMF River Tam, BAMF Simon Tam, Deductions, F/M, Gabriel Tam is a bad parent, Gen, Genii Tam Siblings, Genius Simon Tam, Hands of Blue are a-holes too, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Manipulative Relationship, POV Simon Tam, Science Genius Simon Tam, Simon and River are like twins, Simon is Sassy, Simon is also a bit sadistic, Simon is just as smart as River, non-consensual incest, river is sassy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:21:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 16
Words: 37,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28003836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkStainedHands1177/pseuds/InkStainedHands1177
Summary: No matter how much pain there is to be had in the universe, Simon will always be there for his sister, and that is exactly how River wants it.
Relationships: Hoban Washburne/Zoë Washburne, Jayne Cobb/Kaylee Frye, Malcolm Reynolds/Inara Serra, non-con: Simon Tam/River Tam, one-sided: Simon Tam/Kaylee Frye
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

“Simon!” 

The boy looked up sharply and then jumped up when he realized what his father was calling him for. Smartly, he hurried over to see his mother. She had just returned from the hospital. His eyes quickly skidded over her, collecting data. “A girl then.”

The nurse escorting his mother laughed in surprise. “Well, a little psychic.”

“Nonsense.” Simon’s reply was cut short by his father’s laugh. 

“Though he’s only eight, my son, Simon, is quite intelligent. He looks for clues. Simon, what tipped you off?”

“The strict gender coloring is still in place within hospitals. There’s a pink blanket around the baby instead of a blue one, and Mother is smiling more than she did in photographs with me, a boy. She prefers children of the female sex over male.” Simon turned back to his shocked mother, ignoring how stunned everyone was. “May I hold my sister?”

“Y-yes.”

He made sure not to touch his mother as he took the bundle. Wrinkling his nose, Simon tilted his head to the side. “Wrinkled and red. Not at all like the advertising in birthing hospitals. They must wait until the child’s head isn’t pointed.” He raised an eyebrow at his father. “I thought you were planning on doing a Cesarean Section.”

“Plans change. Your mother wanted a natural water birth.” 

The nurse was quick to leave the strange family. Simon looked her over and opened his mouth, but his father stopped him. “Enough, Simon. No more data collection. In fact…” Gabriel Tam narrowed his eyes at his son. “Don’t do it out loud and in front of others again.”

Simon stared up at him and then nodded before looking back down at his sister. “Yes, Father.”

~five years later~

“How did you know that the nanny was stealing from us?” River looked at him intently. Simon turned away from the mirror. The slap from his father had left a mark. Simon knew he shouldn’t verbalize on his observations, but the nanny  _ was _ robbing them blind. 

“Observation. I use my eyes and observe, instead of only seeing.”

“What’s the difference?” 

Simon snorted. “I’m not giving away easy answers, River. Tell me yourself.”

She furrowed her brows. “Observe, verb, to notice or perceive something as being significant. See, also a verb, to look and discern visually.”

“So?” Simon looked at her with a raised eyebrow. 

“Observing is attaching importance to visual cues, seeing is just using your eyes to look at your surroundings.”

“And how could I use this difference to find out-”

“You made a game of it!” Her eyes lit with glee. “You’re brilliant, Simon!” She kissed him on the lips and then pulled away and furrowed her brows in thought. “Tying all the visual clues together to form a picture of the person behind the lies…”

“Exactly. Come here.” He opened the window and then pointed at their gardener. “Tell me everything you can.”

“He’s…” She studied the man intently and then smiled. “Drinking again, and he’s just had sex.”

“Right, and?”

River frowned slightly and then tilted her head. “I don’t know…he’s right-handed, got three kids, two mistresses, and a wife.”

“You are observing, River, just not deep enough. Sometimes you should also observe what you know within your head. What’s his schedule today? And what’s wrong with him?”

“He’s not supposed to be weeding the East gardens today!” She jerked slightly. “Our gardener has a scar on his hand! He doesn’t.”

“Scars never lie, River. So, what does that mean?”

“He’s not our gardener.”

“Don’t be obvious, River.” She scowled at him. Simon exhaled slowly. “Where’s our real gardener?”

River gasped. “Blood on his hands. I thought that was clay.”

“Go tell Father that our gardener’s been murdered and someone’s about to attack the house.”

River looked at Simon’s cheek and then nodded. “Okay.” She wouldn’t get the harsh punishment since this was her first time observing things. 

~four years later~

Simon rolled his eyes in consternation as he looked at his fellow classmates. He wasn’t going to drink and act like a fool. Walking out of the room that all the grads were gathered in, Simon looked up when he saw his sister running towards him. 

“Congratulations!” She laughed and jumped. Yelping, he dropped his things to catch her. Regan shook her head.

“River, you shouldn’t act like that in public.” 

Not looking a bit repentant, River wrapped her arms around Simon’s neck and then looked at her maid. “Pick up Simon’s things. He’s carrying something much more important.” 

Rolling his eyes, Simon snorted. “I could easily drop you, you know.”

“Nope! Holding on too tightly.” She kissed his cheek. “Why’d you hang back to three percent?” She frowned at him. “You’re just as smart as me.”

“I don’t like advertising the extent of my skills, River.”

“Wallflower.” She smirked at him even as he set down his seven-year-old sister.

“Cautious.” Simon looked at his father quickly before dropping his gaze back to her. River pursed her lips. 

“Scared.”

“That too.”

She grabbed his hand and then paused when their father spoke up. “Simon, the government has shown interest in both you and your sister attending their private academy. There are hundreds of programs and resources that aren’t open to public or private use in schools. River is interested in going.” 

Looking down, Simon smiled at River. “While I’m happy for my sister, I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. I’ve already got an internship interview for the Osiris Healing Hospital.”

Regan smiled at him in pride. “I’m glad that you’ve already set out on your life career, Simon. You’ve always been so focused.”

Looking down at his sister, Simon gave her a look. She replied with a nose wrinkle. He laughed softly at that. 

“I’ve never understood how you two can be so close.” Gabriel shook his head in amusement.

“It’s all about body language, Father.” River smiled over at him. “Simon and I know each other well because we’ve studied each other.” Her eyes darkened. “We are each other.”

“Oh…and what does that mean?”

River didn’t bother replying. Simon cleared his throat past the awkwardness that formed. “We could be twins is what she’s saying.” River’s eyes were filled with messages. 

_ Liar. Liar. Liar.  _

Simon looked away and took his things from Ginny, their maid. “Thank you, Ginny.” He glanced at her and then spoke before he could stop himself. “Going out with Jack again, eh?”

Ginny flushed. “Yes, Master Simon. How did you-”

“Simon.” Flinching at his father’s warning tone, Simon chuckled. 

“Ginny is family, Father. She’s been with us since River was in diapers and drooling.”

River tried to kick his shin, but Simon dodged with a laugh and climbed into the car. River dove in after him.

~one week later~

Simon had managed to convince River not to go to this academy until she was twelve at the very least. Looking up, Simon smiled at the officers who were friends with the man under Simon’s care. “Sirs, here to visit Officer Fallman?”

“No, actually. We’re here to speak to you, Doctor.”

Simon cleared his throat. “I’m not actually a doctor yet, but thank you.” His deflection was ignored. Straightening up slowly, Simon started to frown. “What can I do for you? Please, have a seat.”

The two officers remained standing. “We simply are messengers at the moment, Mr. Tam. You’ve been summoned for a physical. It’s standard procedure for all internships.”

Taking the digital brochure, Simon nodded slowly. “I understand. Thank you.”

They nodded to him with a brief smile from each man before exiting his small office. Swallowing, Simon looked over the brochure and then slipped out for some coffee. His lunch was about ten minutes till. Looking out over the plaza, Simon smiled. There was River. Right on time, as per usual. She bounced into the hospital lobby and pulled him into a tight hug. 

“Hey River.” He let her give him her customary cheek kiss before turning back to the brochure, even though he had already memorized it. It was a bunch of fitness tests and reflex testing, also there was a competency test and something like a self-defense exam. He frowned and then waved Sally over. River was leaning against his side.

“Hey, Simon. What’s up? Hi River!” Sally waved at the disinterested River. Simon gave Sal an apologetic look before speaking up.

“Did you have to do this?”

“Huh?” She craned her neck and looked at the brochure and then snorted. “Yeah. It was a bunch of bullsh- er, waste of time.”

“I know all the prophanities that society thinks I shouldn’t know. It’s perfectly fine to curse in front of me.” River’s voice was the epitome of boredom. Simon gave Sally a rueful grin.

Snorting, Sally nodded and then crossed her arms. “Yeah, when I started, they came to me about a week in and asked me to do a bunch of that crap. It doesn’t affect anything if you fail it, but I guess they’re only looking for people who will refuse. Red flag them as uncooperative or something.”

“Huh.” He nodded. “I suppose it makes sense. Thanks.” He shot her a smile and then turned back to his coffee. 

“Lunch doesn’t start until T-minus five minutes and fifty-seven seconds.”

“Dr. Hansen is out playing golf, and all the nurses like me,” Simon smirked at her. 

“You shouldn’t flirt with them.”

“I don’t!” Simon rolled his eyes and then looked around the room. “I just tell them what they want to hear. That’s all.”

“Faker.”

“We both are, Riv.”

River sat up slowly and then nodded. “Point. You more than me.” She gave him a look.

Simon shook his head. “Only because Father wanted a normal son.” The snarl under Simon’s words told River exactly what he felt about that. She scrunched up her face and Simon bopped her nose. “He didn’t have you do that because a brilliant daughter is something he can be proud of and not jealous of. A son is supposed to be a cheaper copy of the father. I can’t show him up. Can’t break his records. Not Father’s at least. Mother doesn’t have any records, and your gender difference makes Father feel safe.”

“I understand.” His ten-year-old sister looked around and then grinned darkly. “She’s sleeping with the janitor.”

“Obviously.” Simon sneered quietly. “And Sally is addicted to five different drugs.”

River shot her gaze over to the girl and then nodded as she saw the signs. “How do you always see things faster than me?”

“You jump ahead. You’re not methodical, mei mei.” 

Sticking her tongue out at him, River snuggled against him and shivered. “I don’t like our butler.”

“Neither do I. Hopefully, I can get him to quit.”

“How?”

“Mental manipulation. It’s a tricky thing.” Simon lowered his voice. “Brainwashing, probing questions, keywords. It’s tricky only until you figure out the person.” He rolled his eyes. “Then it’s easy. Everything’s easy.”

“Boring.”

“Yeah.”

“Why’d you become a Doctor?”

“Because I want to become a diagnostician and trauma surgeon. Surgery is always a bit of a challenge, uncertain puzzles crop up, and the harder the disease or illness the better. There’s always a new disease.” Simon’s eyes were glowing with eagerness. “I won’t be as bored now.”

“What should I do? Dancing is a hobby. If I work for it, then all the joy will be sucked out of it.”

“Architecture?” Simon smirked at her. She poked his ribs with her elbow. 

“Simon! I’m being serious!”

Chuckling, Simon nodded. “I know. How about…” He looked at her. “Crime. You can become a criminal profiler.”

Her eyes lit up with interest. “I like that idea.”

“Knew you would.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon meets the crew of Serenity.

~the next day~

Looking up when his name was called, Simon smiled at the nurse. “I’m here for my health and wellness checkup for my internship completion.”

“Right. You’re Simon Tam?”

_ Obviously _ . Simon smiled friendly like and nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”

“Go right on in.”

“Thank you.” He hurried past now that the useless drivel was done being spouted. He entered the exam room and looked around. 

“AH! Simon Tam! Good to see you today. I’m Doctor Samual Lee. Pleasure.”

“The pleasure is mine sir.” Simon looked over and frowned at the presence of two men in the observation room. “I was of the assumption that this examination would be respecting my medical privacy.” 

Samual Lee turned and winced slightly. “Ah, well, Alliance officials. They heard about your IQ and talent in the classroom. They wanted to see for themselves the wonder boy of Osiris.”

Smiling through his irritation, Simon nodded. Alliance couldn’t be messed with. Not if he didn’t want to commit career suicide before he even got off the ground. “Of course, doctor. What do you need me to do?”

“Just let me attach these on and then you’ll be required to perform a series of mental puzzles, math, languages, logic puzzles, medical problem solving, etc. Just to see how well you work under pressure and how quick you can be on your proverbial feet.” The man laughed again. Simon narrowed his eyes before smiling genially. 

_ He’s scared. Those Alliance men aren’t supposed to be here, and he’s scared. They threatened him. _ Simon looked at the man’s perspiration and then knew for a fact that he had been threatened.  _ Why would the Alliance strong arm their way in to see me? _ Simon thought about that all the way through his first seven tests. He finished in what he considered moderate time. About twenty minutes per each test. 

He didn’t dare look at the Alliance officials again. That would show a guilty mind. However, not to steal at least one fast glance would show a mind full of secrets. Simon stretched after his last written test and glanced quickly at the observation box. They were watching him. He quickly looked away again and focused on the doctor. 

“Now, reflexes. Please sit up on the bed.”

Simon grimaced at the scanners attached to his scalp. They were measuring his brain waves and such as he manipulated his mind and body to complete the tasks. 

~meanwhile~

“He’s faking.”

“Obviously. The boy is a marvel, a genius. His brain was lighting up with answers long before he actually wrote out the words on the computer.” 

“Do we have anything on his sister yet?”

“Nothing. Yet.” 

“How do we get the boy?”

“By grabbing the girl. She’ll be coming in two years, and then, we’ll let her slip out an SOS to him. When he comes in, we take him as well. Simple.”

“What if she doesn’t-”

“Then we’ll fake one for him anyways. It doesn’t matter. You’ve seen how close they are. She’s the bait, and we’ll have both of them before five years.”

“Good. They only care about results.”

“Don’t I know it.”

~the next day~

Simon looked around as he grabbed his things from his locker. No one had bothered him again, and yet…something was unsettling him. 

~two years and sixth months later~

Life without River was dull and painful. Simon looked up when the mail came. Grinning, he jumped up and grabbed the paper letters. For some reason, his sister preferred paper letters to electronic letters. Simon didn’t mind. It was nice having a textured thing in his hands.

_ Ah. Perhaps that’s why she likes it also. _ He chuckled and pulled open the letter.

~four years later~

Simon swallowed and looked at all the letters spread over his desk. 

_ They are hurting us. Get me out. _

Straightening like a shot, he stared at the message and then swallowed. Alliance. Alliance was hurting his sister.

Moving quickly to his computer, he started withdrawing his funds from his main accounts and setting up dummy accounts. He siphoned a little off the top of his mother’s and father’s retirement funds also. They hardly looked at them, and he needed them more than they did. 

Rolling his eyes, Simons quickly navigated the web and taught himself how to slice through security. Once he had sufficiently mastered it, he started looking through the security and the blueprints of the physical building that River was being held in. 

It took him a year.

~Persephone~

Simon looked at the passenger and knew immediately that he was the spy from Alliance. Picking up his steak knife, he slipped it up his sleeve and got up from the table as everyone else did. He smiled pleasantly at the engineer. She was an easy mark. He knew, and maybe he’d fiddle with that form of entertainment later, but right now…right now, he had a spy to kill.

The man was threatening his sister’s survival. Hippocratic Oath be damned. The man wasn’t Simon’s patient, so there was some wiggle room. 

He slipped away to man’s bunk and stayed in the corner. When he came in, Simon was on him. “I’m afraid you committed suicide, Officer. Before you had a chance to send a message.” Simon smiled at him and then swiftly slit the man’s wrists at the correct angles.

“You- you can’t do this! They said you were a doctor! You can’t murder people! They said you were soft!”

“Oops, I suppose you were misinformed. And…I guess you couldn’t live with your debts anymore.” Simon stepped away from the man’s pooling blood and grabbed the communicator and his own computer. 

Keeping the man in sight, Simon hacked into the spy’s bank accounts and started draining them to different gambling joints. “You really should be more careful about vices like gambling.” Simon tisked softly and then chuckled at the man’s panicked look. “They didn’t tell you how cruel and desperate I could be when pushed? Pity. You know, an animal, a predator, is always the most dangerous when cornered.” His eyes glittered. “Leave my sister alone, you rutting moron.” He stayed until the man had bled out completely. That done, Simon cleaned the room of his fingerprints and then slipped away to his own room. 

Jayne looked at the doctor walking down the corridor. He frowned and looked into the other passenger’s room and gave a shout before running straight to Mal. “He rutting slit the man’s wrists!”

Exactly ten minutes later, Simon found himself in a sort of court. He exhaled slowly and then started explaining his past. However… “Perhaps this can show you just how smart River is when I say that she makes me look like an idiot child.” Simon looked at them all as he continued his account.

“How’d you get her out?”

“Money.” Simon swallowed. “And…and luck.”

“And that man you killed?”

“Well, he was an Alliance spy, and I’m sorry if you’re for the Alliance- which I have my doubts that you are- but it was either him or my sister.” Simon shrugged. “I may be a doctor, but I don’t really give a damn about human life, especially if they’re disgusting Alliance mongrels without a brain cell to share among them.” He worded himself perfectly. Simon hid a smile when Mal and Zoe straightened in approval. 

It was only later that Mal did what Simon wanted. He was now the ship’s surgeon. 

Perfect.

When he was finally alone, he settled with his sister and looked at her. “How are you feeling?”

“Scattered. Scared. Sober…” She stared at him with wide eyes. “Hate being sober, know it’ll be over soon. Know it’ll be gone. Only a memory in a sea of chaos. Chaos and carnage and terror…” She started crying again.

Simon pulled her against him gently and cradled her as he sang softly one of her favorite lullabies.

“Didn’t think you’d come back for me.”

“Well, you always were the stupid one.”

She hit his arm and gave him a half smile. “Love you.”

“Love you too, mei mei.” He kissed her temple. 

“We can’t go home.”

“No. We can’t.”

“A home between the stars now.” She looked at him. He nodded with a smile.

“That’s exactly right.”

“They hurt me.” She was starting to shake. Simon swallowed and then frowned sharply when she murmured ‘two by two…hands of blue’. Jerking into movement, he grabbed her shoulders and stared at her. 

“River, do you mean two men with blue gloves?!”

Her eyes widened with fear and confirmation. That immediately gave way to screaming. He shushed and calmed her down immediately and held her, rocking back and forth with her until she fell asleep. After that, he placed a monitor in her room and tucked her in before hurrying out to speak to Captain Reynolds.

Rubbing his hands down his thighs, he stopped and watched at Mal ‘talked’ with Companion Serra. He cleared his throat. 

“What do you want?” Mal looked irritated. Simon blinked and then snapped his gaze up and down the man and then snorted.

“Sorry for breaking into your moment of sexual tension, but I was wondering when we would be landing on a planet that has a sizable market. Since you woke up my sister before her time, you might have noticed that she’s naked, save for the clothing that Companion Serra provided for her.”

Mal blustered through the ‘sexual tension’ comment. “I don’t reckon you know, but we’re actually continuing with that announcement we made.”

“Though not by the order of the Alliance.” Simon smirked at him. “I understand. You have to make a drop of stolen or smuggled cargo. Believe me.” He looked around. “I know all about…smuggled cargo.”

“Yeah, I bet you do, doc. After that, we can make a stop at a planet, but how will you get the clothes?”

“A girl shopping for girl clothes wouldn’t draw attention.”

“We’ve got ourselves a doctor in drag?” Jayne had joined the conversation.

Simon treated the man with a supremely irritated look. “Get bent.” Turning back to Mal, he continued, ignoring the shocked look on Jayne’s face. “I’m sure that Miss Frye wouldn’t mind, and if she can’t, then would Companion Serra mind?”

“I wouldn’t mind-”

“Just what are you plannin’ to use for money?” Mal tilted his head at Simon. 

The young chuckled softly. “I did tell you that I was smart compared to other humans. It didn’t take long for me to learn how to…” He searched for a good word. “Relieve my father of some funds that he doesn’t need as much as I or my sister…I have several dummy accounts under several names that won’t be flagged anytime soon by the Alliance.”

Mal blinked at him. “And you would be able to do that for anyone?”

“Yes, including the man who backed out of your deal with you, forcing you to make this rather hasty meet up that your crew is less than pleased about.” 

“How’d you know that?!”

“I do have eyes, Mr Cobb.” Simon slid a look at Jayne, who bristled. He sighed tiredly. “Apologies. I understand that not everyone is comfortable with being observed so intently. What I did was simply pick up visual clues that a person carries about them, on their person, in their clothes, in their bearing, it doesn’t matter. I piece the keys together to solve a puzzle. That’s how I knew that the spy was a spy before anyone of you did.”

“That’s amazing…you do Deductions.” 

Simon frowned. “I am…unaware of the meaning of that. I understand the word, but the context in which you’ve used it…” He looked at Book, who chuckled.

“On Earth-that-was, there was an author named Arthur Doyle. One of his characters was called Sherlock Holmes. Allegedly, Doyle patterned his main character after a doctor who was able to deduce his patients’ ailments even before the persons opened their mouths.”

“Cool!” Wash had apparently joined the party. Simon wanted to scream. 

_ Was there nowhere private on this tub? _

“Do me! Do me!”

“I don’t swing that way.” Simon turned back to Mal. “After you make the drop, you’ll try to refuel at a good planet?”

“Yeah. But more onto your hacking skills. What if you didn’t have access to a person’s data, unlike you did with your father, could you drain their assets?”

“Yes. Who backstabbed you?” Simon smirked.

“A guy named Badger on Persephone. I don’t want every penny. Just want what he owed us.”

“And that was?”

“Thirty thousand.”

“Got it.” Simon nodded and then turned to Inara. “Would you be willing?”

“Of course.”

“I will provide you the necessary funds, of course.”

“Thank you. I didn’t doubt you would.  _ You’re _ not a thief.” 

“Just a killer and a bank robber.” Mal’s muttered comment went ignored.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon shows off, and River sees too much. As per usual.

Wash was sulking. “Come on!”

Sighing, Simon turned and looked at Wash, blatantly scanning him, head to toe. Exhaling, he opened his mouth and then paused and turned. River was grinning.

“Looking at the second person behind the lies.”

Simon chuckled and nodded. He grabbed her hand gently. She leaned against him, exhaling softly, looking for once at peace. Turning back to Wash, he narrowed his eyes.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!”

“Fine. You hide behind your humor and quick wit because you have a secret fear that you’ll never add up in your wife’s estimations as being a man, not with Captain Reynolds around. You have a deep seeded jealousy for the man because he shares so much more with Zoe than you do, or so you think. You’re wife and you have a healthy sex life, but she wants a child and you keep putting her off. You have a mother who’s still alive, and you write to her a lot, but not via electronic. She prefers the paper and ink way. You’ve done more things in your life than pilot a ship and cook. You also used to play a musical instrument. You hate your father because he was pro unification and cut you off when he found out that you married a Browncoat. You never told Zoe this, because you didn’t want her to know about your family’s mixed loyalties. Also, you’re afraid that you’re shooting blanks which is why you keep putting Zoe off instead of telling her the truth. You’re afraid of being less than a man in her eyes. Did I miss anything?”

Simon was completely expecting the punch that the man gave him. River screamed, “Simon!”

Stumbling back, Simon exhaled slowly and then rotated his jaw. “I’ll take that as a no.” He looked at the mortified and mixed-up man. “You’re also right handed, can play the guitar and drums, and used to be really good with throwing knives but you’ve fallen off practice. Your father wanted you to be a pilot for the Alliance, just a stab in the dark, but it’s a good guess considering everything else.”

Wash swallowed and wouldn’t look at his wife or Mal. “Yeah. You’re right about everything.”

Laughing, River clapped her hands. “Simon doesn’t need to read minds. He reads souls and eyes and flesh.”

Simon exhaled. “I’m…sorry about saying everything. I suppose I was overeager to try my wings. My father banned me from ever verbalizing my observations. He punished me severely everytime I did so.”

Inara coughed. “I can’t imagine why.”

Nodding in understanding, Simon chuckled. “True. It can be a bit harsh to live with.”

“How’d ya do that?” Jayne stared at him.

Simon looked at River, who balked and then steeled herself. She closed her eyes and spoke quickly. “Body language shows the fear. Eyes show the jealousy. Child detector in Zoe’s pocket. Only mentioned mother, no father. Father gone. Torn photographs. Ink on fingers but flying doesn’t need ink. Calluses clue for music and knives. Language and education inner world, slips sometimes, says things, references, shows knowledge of a world he doesn’t belong in anymore. Flinching at the mention of children, educated guess.” At that she gave Simon a look. “Beyond guessing. Shouldn’t guess.”

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry.” Simon rolled his eyes.

“Woah.” Jayne looked at River. “That was the most I’ve heard you speak this entire time.”

Her returning look was truly remarkable in a scathing sort of way. Simon shrugged. “It’s all body language, word choice, and attire, essentially.”

River turned and looked at Simon intently. “You know about the blue hands.” Her voice tremored. Simon nodded to the others and then pulled River quickly away and into the infirmary before closing the doors and resting his hands on her shoulders. 

“They visited me during the first week of my internship. Remember, River? I was asked to do a physical. They attended it.”

“They know you’re me.”

“No. I faked it on the exams. I gave wrong answers to some things, I took longer on it. They don’t know anything.” Simon smiled. “You showed off and got burned for it, mei mei.” She stuck her tongue at him causing him to chuckle. 

“They want you to be me. They want to have you. Cut you. Hurt you.” She shook, but for a moment there was anger in her eyes. “They’ll die trying. Breath as silent as space. Extinction of life.”

Breath catching, Simon smiled. “They aren’t hunting me for my brains, goose. I’m just target practice for them to vent their spleens.”

She snorted. “You’re the goose.” She turned her head and stared at him hard. “Stay away from engines.” With that, she kicked a table and overturned the entire tray and all the tools before running to her room that she shared with him. 

“River! You’re a brat!” Simon exhaled slowly. After he got the infirmary cleaned up, he was about to leave and check on his sister when he heard the captain’s announcement. “Reavers…are real?” River slipped up beside him.

“Everyone’s scared.”

Simon looked up at Zoe. “What happens if they board us?”

She looked at River first and then gave him her answer. Simon swallowed and then pulled his sister into the infirmary and looked for what he knew could help. “River.” He stared at her and knew she was lucid for the moment. “Do not leave my side.”

She nodded. “Death is better. Silence instead of pain. Permanence is a solution sometimes.”

“Exactly.” Simon kissed her forehead. “Exactly.” Kaylee raced past them to get to the engine room. The Shepherd stepped over to where they were. 

Every bit of tension eased out of Simon when he heard that the Reavers had stayed on course. They were going to land on the moon as planned.

“Two by two…hands of blue.”

“They won’t touch you or catch us, River.” Simon looked at her intently. “They will never touch you again.” She smiled at him.

“Chaos soothed.”

Chuckling, Simon pulled her against him and tried to swallow down his bile. His sister was broken but…she had her lucid moments, and just like she hated them because they’d always go away, he craved them, because they always gave him hope.

It was after a Reaver chase that Mal approached him. “The funds?”

“Give me a moment.” Simon pulled up his computer and nodded to the crew that was gathering around the dining room table. He worked steadily and then snorted. “Badger’s account name is Theodore Rasticuss.”

Jayne snickered. “Theodore. Ain’t that just a posh name for rat scum like him?”

“Can you make it so that he won’t suspect us?” Zoe frowned at Simon, who raised an eyebrow. 

“Do you generally make it a habit of stealing funds from a bank account?”

She scowled at the mocking. Mal spoke up before she could. “Tread softly, doc.”

“Right.” He continued working the computer and then smiled. “Done. It’s in my bank account because you didn’t give me yours ahead of time.” 

Mal gave him a knowing look. “Right. Drop it in mine thanks.”

“Where do you want it to come from? A job that you did? I can make it look like someone else gave you the deposit as payment.”

“Jack Norris. Army buddy.”

Simon nodded and continued working the computers. River smirked. 

“Flesh and bone and brain the same. Twins in all but age.”

Simon snorted. “Yeah, sure, you forgot the all important  _ gender, _ River.”

“Insufficient data.”

Jaw dropping, Simon gaped at his smirking sister. “You brat!” He shouted at her in Mandarin to take that back. She only giggled and dashed away.

Jayne cleared his throat. “I’m lost. What just happened now?”

“You have the funds, Captain.” Simon turned and looked at Jayne as he packed up. “And that sensation must not be at all new to you.” With that, he hurried away before Jayne figured out what he just said.

“WHY YOU LITTLE-” 

Simon bolted. He could hear Kaylee and Wash laughing in the background.

~some weeks go by~

It had been a bad day for River. Thus, it had been a bad day for Simon. He stared at the planet they were on. River was sleeping off a mega meltdown in their bunk. He had the monitor on and an alarm lock on their door. If she was lucid enough to bypass both, then she could take care of herself long enough to find him. 

So, Simon was sitting outside the ship, enjoying fresher air and peace and silence.

“Heya doc.”

Almost silence. 

Forcing a smile, Simon turned and nodded to Kaylee. “Miss Frye.”

“Aw, no need to go and call me that. Just Kaylee.” She smiled and then gestured to the bench he was on. “Mind if I…”

“Please, go ahead.”

She smiled and sat next to him. “What you did with Wash those few days back…”

“I apologized to him.”

“No, he’s fine. He and Zoe have talked about it-”

“No they haven’t.” Simon caught himself and then exhaled. “Sorry.”

Kaylee chuckled quietly. “What do you see off of me?”

“Do you really want to go there?”

“Yeah. I’m curious.” She gave him a bright smile.

Simon exhaled and looked her over. “You’re close to your family. You’re ambidextrous, and have grown up around machines all your life. You don’t have much of a social life and are seen as the little sister only. It gets under your skin. You’re careless and get too emotionally invested. You had a little sister but she’s dead now, leaving only two older brothers and a father. Your mother isn’t in the picture anymore. You miss your sister all the time, especially considering that you blame yourself for her death.”

Kaylee stared at him. “That’s…inhuman.”

“No. It’s just good eyesight.” Simon looked out at the town they were in. 

“Can ya…break it down for me?”

“Sure. I went to your bunk once to pick up the clothes you got for River. Thank you again for that, by the way. I saw pictures of your father and brothers but none of your mother. Don’t know her then. Means she’s not close. You have a necklace hanging on your mirror that has the name Helen with dates. Birth and death. Too close to your birth date to be your mother. So, sister. Dead sister. You have the necklace on your mirror because you can’t wear it around the engines, but you see it every day. You think about her every day. You don’t mind that, so you were close.”

“That’s amazing. And the ambidextrous part?” She frowned. “What’s that even-”

“You can write with both hands. Use both hands for any task equally. I saw you work and saw you write. It made sense. Both your hands are the same size. The predominant hand tends to be larger than the hand less often used, but both hands were roughly the same size. You use them equally. Simple.”

“And the carelessness with emotion?”

“You have a crush on me, a wanted fugitive. Any day I might cut and run for my sister, any moment I might cut off a date or a night in for my sister. You’re being careless about your heart, but you're not careless about anything else in your life. Thus, emotional investment skews your thinking. River is my number one priority. My sole purpose as of now. I cannot split focus. I cannot juggle. You need to come into this friendship with open eyes, or don’t bother trying at all. You must understand. She is my blood, my purpose, and my only family left. I will drop everything to help her. Including a significant other. Until River can take care of herself, I am the one who steps up to that, and I cannot allow anyone to cause me hesitation.”

Looking embarrassed, understanding, and sad, Kaylee swallowed and nodded. “So…friends…for now?”

Simon smiled and shook her proffered hand. “That I can do.”

“I’m glad.” She looked at him with interest. “If you teach me computers, then I’ll teach you mechanics.”

Simon tilted his head and then smiled. “That would be…diverting. It’s a deal.”

She blinded him with her smile.

Meanwhile, in the ship, River snarled in her sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drop a comment, if you like! ; D  
> Ink...


	4. Chapter 4

After an aborted train heist, River watched the crew float between the spaces of the stars. Simon watched River. 

Kaylee bounced into the cargo area and beamed at him. “So, did you like my computer program?”

Chuckling, Simon nodded. “I think it has quite a bit of promise.”

“Liar.” River’s voice wafted up to them on the catwalk. Simon closed his eyes and smiled through his discomfort. 

“However, there are one or two things that you should keep in mind when making an AI.”

“What’s that?” Kaylee’s smile shrank a few teeth. 

Straightening, Simon studied River while he spoke. “You didn’t install a morality leash. Giving a logical machine all that data and ability and not leashing them with morals and mercy is a recipe for disaster.”

Kaylee frowned. “But logic isn’t wrong-”

Interrupting, Simon chuckled. “Kaylee, do you believe people are born naturally good and wholesome and are corrupted through their lives?”

“Yeah.” She smiled. “Nicer way to live, doncha think?”

River had joined their group. “You’re silly.” Simon thought that summed up the entire situation perfectly. 

Clearing his throat, Simon shook his head. “Well, I suppose we’ll have to differ on opinions about the intrinsic nature of humans and their morality, but back to the initial topic we have. Your AI is purely logical. Logic without morality means there are no grey areas. Life or death. Judgment all the way through. Ends justify the means. Greater Good. All those grand sounding mantras will be enacted to completion by an AI on the loose.”

“That why artificial intelligence programming is banned by Alliance?” Mal clomped down the stairs. Simon nodded.

“An AI programmed perfectly would be able to sneak past any firewall.”

“Simon’s made good and bad, evil ones and zeros.” River laughed and then stole his stethoscope. 

“River! You brat!”

“Over and over and over, nothing changes!” Her laughter taunted him.

Simon gave chase. 

Kaylee was laughing and leaning against Mal. “What brought on the talk about AIs?”

“Oh, he’s teaching me how to work with computers as good as engines.” She beamed up at him. “He’s a nice man, Cap’an.”

“Well, just between you and me, you shouldn’t nurse those soft feelings, xiao mei mei. He might be leavin anytime for his sister.”

“I know. We’ve already talked about it. Simon doesn’t know subtlety. He’s very straightforward.”

“Unlike his sister.”

“He told me straight off that we should only be friends until River can stand on her own. He’s really nice.”

“Also unlike his sister.”

Rolling her eyes, Kaylee smirked at him. “You know, deep down, behind all that gruff and stuff, you’re nice too, cap.”

“I am not.” He smiled at her all fond like. “I’m a mean old man.”

“Talk.” She laughed and then danced off to the kitchen to grab something to eat. 

~meanwhile~

“While your plan was well and good, you promised me the brother as well as the sister. And now, you have neither.” The man looked at the two men in front of him. “What can you do to fix this problem?”

“Sir, we have every Alliance ship out looking for a Firefly class ship and the two children. The reasons for the hunt are classified. If you wish, then we can set a reward-”

“Do so. The girl is dangerous and needs to either be put back under control or eliminated, but the boy is a fresh start. Our scientists can start over with him and implement what they’ve learned from their failures. Get that boy alive, and kill the girl if she proves uncontrollable.”

“Yes, sir.”

~back to Serenity~

Simon leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. “Hello Shepherd.”

“Your eyes are closed. How did you know-”

“Older cookie sees with his mind.” River sat on the table and grinned. Simon rolled his eyes as he opened them. 

“Your walk. The way a person walks is as distinctive as a thumbprint sometimes. I’m not a cookie, River.”

“Tim Tam. You aren’t a cookie. Together we’re a cookie.”

Book chuckled and joined him at the table. “What were you doing just now?”

“I was remembering my training.”

“Show and tell.” River stared at him eagerly. Simon exhaled and then gave her a look.

“No.”

She didn’t like that. Scowling, River threw the chair. “SHOW AND RUTTING TELL!”

“Woah now!” Mal poked his head in and looked at the wreckage. Simon had already jumped up and was restraining his sister. “Easy on the brick a brack here. That stuff ain’t easy to replace, yanno.”

“Yes, I understand, Captain. I’m sorry. River- OW! You bit me!”

“Show the preacher man and the bad leader what you can do, Simon!”

“Bad leader?!”

“I stopped, River. I’ve never done it again.” Simon swallowed. He pleaded with her silently, with his eyes. She faltered and then looked down, ashamed. 

“Sick inside.”

“I know.” He wrapped his arm around his sister’s shoulders and looked at the confused audience. “I used to be pretty proficient in knives and throwing them and fighting with long knives but I stopped after I started training to become a doctor. I…I don’t like shedding blood.” He swallowed and ignored River’s accusatory glare. He was lying.

“You’re not a freak!”

Flinching, Simon pulled away but his sister grabbed his hand. “River-”

“NO! Not a freak! Not a freaky cookie!”

Cupping her face with his hands, Simon pressed their foreheads together and then sighed before pulling away. “My sister and I both have this…memory skill. We can glance around the room and memorize where everyone is and everything. I could close my eyes right now and calculate everything and throw five knives and kill five people.”

“Five but-” Mal turned and looked behind Simon and saw Zoe and Wash and Jayne peering through at them. He blinked. “Didn’t even know they were there.”

“I heard their breathing.” Simon exhaled slowly and then shoved his hands into his pockets. “I was training once. I set up fifteen target boards around me in my training room. Then I blindfolded myself afterwards and hit the dead center of every target. It’s just memory and trajectory calculations. That’s it. Anyone could do it-”

“If they had a head for numbers like you.” Mal pointed at Simon and then at River. Simon nodded.

“Yeah. The thing was, I was at a boarding school, and my friend…” He grimaced. “Who I thought was a friend, saw me. He told everyone that I was a mind seeing psychic freak. After that, I asked my father to transfer me to another school across the planet. I pretended to be normal from then on. River was homeschooled though. She was never taught to hide her brilliance. And honestly, with all her brilliance, so much more than mine, she can’t really hide it anyways.” 

River poked him in the back with the knife handle. Simon took the blade from her and then rolled his eyes before flicking it fast behind him and not looking to see where he sent it. The knife embedded straight into the cutting board’s center. 

“I showed them. Happy?”

“Much.” River’s smile was too innocent to be real.

The others stared at him. He scowled. “I don’t like showing off.”

“And you say River makes you look like an idiot child?”

“Yeah.” Simon went back to his seat and continued looking through his hand computer. He was already bored of astrophysics. Switching to something else, he raised an eyebrow and looked Jayne. “Yes?”

“You could be a killer if you wanted to. Why-?”

“Save lives instead? I wonder…” Simon turned back and then looked over where Kaylee passed by. She didn’t stop, but smiled and waved at him. When she was out of sight, he spoke up. “Killing is boring, and if there is one thing that my sister and I share, it’s our desire to never be bored when we can help it.”

“Huh.” Mal shook his head and then pointed at the computer in Simon’s hands. “And what are you doing there?”

“Learning…” He took a look at the random field he had pulled up. “Neurosurgery.”

Wash scoffed in the background. He looked at Simon. “What do you see from Jayne?”

“That his punch will break my jaw, and I don’t want to risk it.” Simon turned back to his computer. “Though, he secretly likes to bake.”

Mal and Zoe whirled around and stared at the merc, who was flushing. “S’what’s wrong with that?! And how did you know?”

“Foil under the left thumbnail. Cooking foil, and I’m an insomniac because of my sister. I smell you baking during the night when you can’t sleep from the nightmares.”

“What nightmares?” Mal frowned.

Simon exhaled. “He remembers every man he’s killed. It’s not easy being a killer.” Simon quickly realized that he wouldn’t be left alone, so he left them alone. “By the way, Mal, I can’t stand it. Inara has had the hots for you since she first met you. You are sexually attracted to her. Get over it or get it on. Please. I’m running out of pain meds for migraines.” 

“That kid is asking for it.” Mal was red faced.

Zoe and Wash were snickering together. 

The next day, they landed on a planet that was similar to Persephone. It was called Halcombe VII. Looking around, Simon grabbed River’s hand and smiled as she walked close with him. They stayed relatively close to the spaceport where Serenity was.

“What a very pretty lady you have on your arm.” An elderly woman smiled at them. Simon faltered.

“No, she’s-”

River kissed his cheek and then smiled at the woman. “Love comes in many forms.” She gasped at something and then pulled him away. The woman was laughing.

“River! You shouldn’t have led that woman on.”

“Shh.” She smiled at him sweetly and impishly before turning back to the clothes. “Legs need to be covered and feet must feel.”

“Right.” Simon shook his head and chuckled before paying for the pants that River was pointing at. She dictated him to buy an armload of things. When they were finished, she grabbed the stuff and grinned. 

“Show stopper! One by one!” With that, Simon laughed as she changed into the clothes and ‘walked down the runway’. She even got Inara- who was still ignorant of Simon’s words to Mal- to join in. Kaylee also joined. Even Zoe got new clothes and showed them off. River was a very dictatorial fashion runway manager.

Simon laughed and then looked at his own personal list. “Inara, Kaylee, I’m going to have to grab some more things for the infirmary. Tools and the like. I’ll be back in an hour. Can you keep River-”

“We’ll watch her.” Kaylee smiled at him. Zoe frowned. 

“Should you go alone?”

“I’ll be fine. Not a lot of Alliance out here.” Simon smiled at her and then nodded to the others before leaving after River waved at him. His sister had shown an intense dislike of not knowing where he was.

Humming a tune he had heard from Inara’s shuttle speakers, Simon looked around and then bought some second rate surgical tools. He would have to read up on metal smithing and then use some of Kaylee’s things to fix them up, but that was completely doable. 

Not faltering at all when he saw a reflection of a man staring straight at him from the other side of the market plaza, Simon thumbed his emergency signal which would sound in the cockpit. 

He only hit it three times, meaning he needed a quick and silent evac without guns blazing. Continuing his shopping, Simon stayed in public view and scanned the crowds on the pretense of stretching. Five men and two women stalking him. Hands were scruffy, scars, dirt under their nails. They weren’t directly in Alliance. Mercenaries probably who recognized him. 

Cursing under his breath, Simon bought two long knives on the sly- meaning he swiped them and left money at the kiosk counter. Slipping further away this time, Simon weaved and twisted his way around the market and back at the spacedock. He saw Mal and Zoe coming over from the ship. Calmly, Simon motioned with his eyes where the men were. 

Someone tapped him on his shoulder. “You Simon Tam?”

“Who’s asking?” Turning smoothly, Simon smiled.

“Nevermind that.” The man leered. “You’ve got a pretty big bounty on your head. Alliance wants you badly.”

“I really didn’t want to do this.” Simon shove the blade into his torso, piercing both lungs immediately. “I hate spilling blood. I’d much rather save lives.” He pulled the knife out and then threw the two blades and killed the two women immediately. “But if I must.”

That’s when Zoe and Mal open fired and Simon- now without a weapon- dove for cover. He made his way carefully back to the women and retrieved his swords before ducking around and rushing back to the ship. Mal and Zoe covered for him. 

When everyone was on board, they shot into space. Simon slumped against the wall as Wash took them back into the black. 

“What were you thinking?!”

“I was thinking that I needed more medical supplies, Captain, and I was also thinking that seven people were too much for you and Zoe. I needed to thin out-”

“You showed off your skill and now others will know what you can do. And I wasn’t askin’ for ya to  _ thin out the numbers _ .” 

Simon studied the man and then exhaled. “So you wouldn’t have had any problem with killing seven people all armed and ready for a fight? Well, I’m impressed with your abilities, Captain.”

Mal gave Simon a sharp look. “I’m not looking for a fight, doc, but I do expect you to follow my lead.”

“Well, I did pick a fight and kill people, so I guess I am following your lead.”

“You know what, boy? I’m gettin kinda irritated with your sarcasm.” Mal stepped closer to him and stared down at him. “You should keep your head down and leave the fightin to us. The Alliance will learn about your fancy knife skills, meanin that they’ll be prepared for it next time. You wasted a powerful ace up your sleeve for seven mercs that Zoe and I could’ve dealt with easy.”

Gritting his teeth, Simon slowly blew out his breath and then nodded. “I see your point, but what’s done is done. The cat is out of the bag, if you will, but I’ll…follow your lead more often, Captain.”

“Good. That’s all I’m a askin.” Mal nodded and then looked over when they heard River scream. There was a huge crash and a yelp from Inara. 

Simon tore up the stairs and then stared in shock. “River?!”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon and River live on Serenity with the others while Hands of Blue close in on them. Life on the ship is hectic as ever.

Kaylee was helping River up, but the others- who had rushed after him- could only gape as they took in River. Inara winced at Simon’s look. “She wanted to put on makeup and heels, and I didn’t see an issue. She said that she didn’t have any allergies…”

“She…she doesn’t. I’ve just never…” Simon swallowed and stared at his rather pretty sister. “River went away when she was twelve, and it took me years to find her and…I never saw her grow up.” He smiled at River. “River, you should have told me that you wanted to have a silk dress.” He chuckled and then took her hands and looked at her from arm’s length. “You’re beautiful.”

Actually blushing, River looked down and then smiled back up at him. “Blood rusts engine parts. DNA wins out in the end.” She toddled on her heels and frowned in concentration. “Need more practice. Not like dancing with toes.”

“Pointe shoes.” Simon spoke up before anyone could ask. “River used to dance ballet. She liked that form the best, and she did it all the time.” Simon caught his sister when she toddled.

Inara chuckled. “She wanted to look pretty. She loves having her hair combed.”

“Good to know.” Simon smiled at the companion in gratitude. River hummed and leaned into his arms, against his chest. Her hair was styled high up on her head. Simon swallowed. “This was what you would have looked like for your coming of age party, River.”

Her wide eyes took his in and she smiled. “Woman grown.”

Laughing, Simon tapped her nose. “Not quite.”

“A seedling daunted by the fire but grows new shoots and stretches into maturity, unfallen by the winds and axes. The cutting axes…”

Sensing that she was about to spin out of control due to memories, Simon cupped her face gently and kissed her nose lightly. She blinked at him, taken completely by surprise and thus shaken out of her triggers. 

“Simon?”

“Back with me? Excellent. Now, time for Princess River to change back to Commoner River, okay?”

“No.” She pouted at him and then pulled away and looked at her feet before spinning on her heels perfectly and pulling him into a dance. Simon groaned. 

“River!”

“Play with the leaves on the floor till the winter winds brush them away. Dance among the trees, Simon. Dance with Princess River.” She smiled at him brightly.

Laughing, Simon finally let her sweep him away. Wash goodnaturedly swept a protesting but laughing Zoe into a dance also. Mal bowed gallantly to Inara, who smirked and accepted. Kaylee pulled Jayne into a dance.

Book was the one who thought of adding music to the situation. 

River rested her head against his shoulder. “Midnight strikes sooner than wanted. Nightmares always come back before night comes.” Her eyes were filled with pain as she stared at him. “My head screams, Simon, with voices that aren’t mine, and thoughts that aren’t mine.”

“What do those voices say, River?” He kept his own tone low and soothing. 

“Mundane and terrible. To and fro. High and low. Nightmares and daydreams.” She cut her gaze to Kaylee. “Things that will never come true, no matter how many stars are wished upon.”

Confused but willing to listen- there always seemed to be a method to his sister’s madness- Simon continued dancing. “The voices belong to other Rivers or other people?”

“Other people. There’s only one River.” She smiled. “And only one Simon. Cookies forever.”

Chuckling, Simon shook his head and then looked at her lovingly. She really was his sweet sister. Sometimes. 

“Why does she call you cookies?” Kaylee called over to them.

River frowned against Simon’s shoulder. “Engines should stay silent and useful.”

Pinching his sister in warning, Simon turned back to Kayless. “Tim Tams are cookies that we grew up with. River Tam and Simon Tam blend to make Tim Tam. We’re cookies.” He shrugged. “It was an old childhood joke.”

Laughing, Kaylee nodded. “That’s interesting. What are Tim Tams like?”

“They come in different flavors. One of the few foods that survived Earth-that-was actually.” Simon grinned and then shrugged. “I might be able to get some on the black market. I’ll look out for them.”

River perked up at that. 

~meanwhile~

Stepping over the bleeding body, one of the men put the device away and looked at the security tape of the spacedock. “Play that again.”

His partner obeyed and replayed it. They watched as Simon Tam threw the knives perfectly. “He’s already a killer…” This was breathed out softly. 

“Yes. Half the work is done for us. The skills are already learned. We won’t have to program them in like we had to do with his sister.”

“Skills yet untapped.”

“We have to get to her before she triggers into the battle training.”

The man nodded and then adjusted his gloves. “This is the only copy. Let’s go.”

~two weeks later~

Simon looked at his sister. She was sleeping with an aid again, but at least she was sleeping. 

“You should be too.”

Looking up, Simon studied the shepherd and then looked back down to his instruments that he was cleaning. The Alliance officials had made a mess of things when searching the ship for him and his sister. Simon pushed the memory of being out in space away. 

“Tell me, when are you going to tell people that you worked as a highly placed Alliance official?” Simon smirked at the stunned man and handed him his computer. “Or that you actually are not Derrial Book?”

“How…”

“I am not the Alliance, and I think you know better than anyone, that I’ve been lying through my teeth this entire time.”

“About your intelligence.”

“The Alliance wants me as well as my sister. They want to use me and do to me what they were trying to do to her.” Simon looked at him and then exhaled slowly. “But that’s neither here nor there. They haven’t found us yet. Anyways, you worked for the Independence side. How come you never went back to them?”

“My identity was destroyed. It was a one-way mission. After that was completed I had nothing else to do with the war. My face was too well known in those war circles on either side for me to be of much use after that as an agent.”

“Ah. Makes sense.”

Book cleared his throat and then looked around. “I would appreciate it if you did not tell anyone about…my past.”

“I understand, and I will keep your secrets.” Simon turned and stared him down. “So long as you keep mine. As far as the crew knows, the Alliance is only actively hunting for River and for me as retribution. They don’t need to know about the added threat. It changes nothing in the end. I am still being hunted.”

“I understand.” Book smiled at him with only his lips.

After that confrontation, the days came and went. River had good days and bad days. Though the only times she actually slept well were when he was sleeping beside her in a tangle of limbs. 

He often sought company with Inara, knowing that the woman wanted nothing from him. “I don’t know. Am I being too lenient and starting bad habits? Will this hinder her healing? I’ve been reading up on psychology but it’s so varied because of differing personalities and traumas and individuality!”

Inara poured them both some tea and sighed. “River has been hurt in both mind and body. I think you should let her find comfort in what she can.”

Slumping at her words, Simon nodded. “True, but…” He smirked. “You should know that a man has needs that a sister should not witness.”

Snorting delicately, Inara smiled into her teacup. “I understand that. Perhaps I can have Kaylee and River over for a sleepover. Just say when you need time alone, and I can see it done. River doesn’t mind me at all.”

“She loves you, actually. You’re calm and quiet.” He frowned thoughtfully. “But she doesn’t much like Kaylee.”

“Jealousy I think. You two were close as siblings before…” Inara’s eyes finished her sentence. Simon nodded.

“We were. Quite a bit closer than normal siblings, because I was the only one who came even a little bit close to her intellect. She was always desperate for distraction. I was able to provide at least a little of that.”

“Now Kaylee is a threat to that bond. Or so River thinks. There’s another female vying for your attention.”

“Shit.”

Inara laughed softly and then sipped some of her tea. “It doesn’t help that River probably- in her lucid moments- chafes at the communication barriers she has now.”

“Very true. Actually, I have suspicions about that.” Simon frowned. “But no medical data to back it up.”

“Well, I can’t do anything to help with that, but I will prepare for the sleepover. Actually, I’m quite looking forward to it. It’s nice not being alone in my shuttle.”

Simon chuckled and then nodded to her before finishing his tea and standing up to bow. “Thank you for your time and company.”

“And thank you for your gratitude and manners. They are very rare in this area of space.” Inara smiled at him widely. Simon chuckled and then made his way out of her shuttle. 

However, Simon had no time to himself since the captain seemed to be fighting for his life and for Inara’s honor the very next week. Rolling his eyes, Simon looked at Badger and wondered if the man would recognize him. He stood up slowly and went to greet River. They did not need a bad day today. 

Turned out, his little sister was always so full of surprises. Accent change and all. 

~two days later~

Simon looked up when Wash came in, cradling his arm. He scanned the man with his eyes and then sighed. “Do I need to give you and your wife lessons in proper BDSM methods concerning handcuffs?” Zoe’s blush didn’t show half as much as Wash’s. “Or would you rather hear it from Inara?” Simon smirked at their flinch. 

“No thanks. How bout you just patch me up, and we don’t tell anyone about this…minor sprain from aggressive piloting?”

“Is that what people are calling sex these days?” Simon waved him further into the room and looked the arm over. “Intense bruising…this cream should help with that. There are no broken bones, but I wasn’t expecting that…actually, considering how injury prone this crew is, I probably should be expecting that on a daily basis. Anyways, no serious sprains. Your flying days are not as behind you as they seemed.” 

Wash breathed an exaggerated sigh of relief. “Good. I had my worries.”

“Me too. You would have gone back to being ship cook, and we would have all died from food poisoning.” Zoe’s teasing voice was partially covered by Wash’s squawk of mock outrage.

Simon turned away as the married couple got into a love spat of teasing and endearments. He grabbed the needed cream and then spread it onto the unsuspecting man. He yelped at the cold temperature and the handling.

“Doctor’s hands are gentle.”

“Tired doctors don’t give a rutting rat’s ass about gentle.” Simon snapped this back and then started bandaging the wrist. “Don’t put additional pressure on it. Your ligaments are fine, but slightly strained. Whatever caused you to pull against your restraints, don’t next time. Just give your safe word.” Simon nodded to them both and then looked up at an extremely uncomfortable Jayne. “Now what?”

Turned out Jayne had a vibrator stuck up his ass. 

This day was just getting better and better.

~some time goes by~

Simon didn’t need to look around to know that these people were inbred, stupid, and overly superstitious, grade-A morons who followed traditions more than the actual religion. 

After he healed up the sick, he grabbed River and slipped out, killing the two men who had been stupid enough to try and stop them. 

That done, he took his sister back to the town and then booked a room under Dr Eric Durya and his sister Susanna Durya.

They stayed there until the captain came into town with Zoe to look for them. 

“Where the hell have you two been?”

“We were kidnapped by inbred villagers. Then, after healing all those I could heal, I and River escaped the village. Wasn’t exactly a bank heist. After that, we capped off our vacation from the ship by renting a room with some sort of infestation that I did not really look too closely into, to be honest. How was your day?”

“Well, we were forced to go to the Alliance after a deal went south, and Book got shot.”

“Book got shot? That was careless of him. He’s still alive, I’m assuming, from your facial expressions.”

“Yeah, he’s alive. Do you know about why he could get the happy sort of welcoming committee from the Alliance? Anything you mighta picked up from your x-ray eyes?”

“He told me that I should keep my observations to myself. Can you give me a good reason to betray his trust and tell you his secrets?” Simon picked up his still too skinny sister and walked out to the ship’s transport.

“Dammit.”

“I’ll take that as you having nothing to convince me with.” Simon climbed in and adjusted his dozing sister in his lap.

Rolling his eyes, the captain started driving back to the ship.


	6. Chapter 6

“It’s a pity that the only major injury that’s happened since I’ve joined the crew occurred when I wasn’t on the ship.” He shook his head in disappointment. “Figures.”

“Don’t worry.” Mal’s voice was grim. “With the way our luck has been going, you won’t be missing out for too much longer.”

“Joy and rapture.”

Zoe snorted. 

When they arrived, Kaylee jumped at Simon and pulled him into a tight hug. “I was so worried for ya! I’m glad you’re both alright!” Her smile was infectious, and Simon smiled back. 

“I saw the ship fly off and I had worries that we’d…never see each other again.”

“That was for Shepherd Book.”

“Ah, yes. I heard about the little excitement that you had. Trigger happy cow rustlers.” He hummed softly and then smiled over at River. “And how are you, mei mei?”

“A fish seeing the sky for the first time, living and dying.” River stood up and walked away. Simon nodded slowly and then turned when he heard Jayne. 

“Do you understand half of the shit she spews out?”

“Actually, I do. From what I’ve gathered, River’s mind was heavily traumatized. She can’t reach into her vocabulary properly and can only find words that are similar to what she actually wants to say, or…adjacent to what she wants. A home between the stars is a ship. A library is Shepherd Book. Bad Leader, is Captain Mal, because ‘mal’ is bad in Latin and the captain is our leader.”

Mal blinked. “Huh.”

Zoe frowned. “So there’s a method to her madness?”

“Definitely, and her fits are sometimes her irritation at herself for being unable to communicate and sometimes her nightmares creeping out into the day. She’s got major PTSD to deal with, on top of not being fully able to communicate.”

“You’ve got a big challenge ahead of you, boy.” Mal shook his head and then started up the metal stairs to the bridge.

“Yeah.” Simon exhaled and then went off to check on Book. Kaylee followed him. 

“I’m sorry for getting angry with you. I know you’re under a lot of pressure.” She swallowed. “Just don’t vent it at my girl.”

Laughing, Simon nodded and then took a look at the man’s stitching and dressing. “They did well with him. There’s nothing to worry about on the sutures…” He started scanning. “I understand why you got angry, Kaylee, and I was wrong to vent it at you. However, I was under the impression that you were a listening ear to me.” He slumped his shoulders. “I suppose that we’re not close enough as friends for that yet.” Guilt her.

“Oh no! You can talk to me, Simon. You know you can. I won’t ever judge you.”

Smiling at her, Simon nodded his thanks. “Thank you, Kaylee. That means a lot to me.” She smiled brightly and then walked away. 

“You’re manipulating that girl.”

“And you shouldn’t have been careless enough to get shot. What? Are you getting soft, agent?”

“I’m not…an agent anymore.” Book exhaled slowly and then looked at the ceiling. “I want to be soft.”

“In a hard as nails galaxy, that’s suicide.”

“You’re a…bitter…young man.”

“With good reason to be so bitter. Or in your old age have you forgotten that my sister’s brains have been turned into scrambled eggs and I have nothing to help her with except backwater medicines and no brain scans?”

“I haven’t…forgotten. But…” He breathed steadily for a moment before continuing. “You shouldn’t be bitter.”

“Preach to me on Sunday, Shepherd.” Simon turned and looked at the readouts. “Well, you’ll get to live another day. The Alliance takes care of their own, even the discharged ones.” Simon smirked.

Book laughed breathlessly. “Good.”

He turned and left the man to rest before reporting to Mal.

“Good to know…” Mal cleared his throat and then looked at him. “Why didn’t the Alliance try to grab you as well as your sister? I ain’t much of a learned man, but it seems to me that you have just as much brains as your sister, when she ain’t bein all loopy.”

Simon swallowed and then slowly turned and regarded the captain. “I wasn’t going to bring it up, but since you mentioned it first…” He exhaled. “They did approach my father when I first graduated from university, but I turned them down because I was just about to enter my internship. They didn’t pursue me. My sister accepted their offer, and this is what happened.”

“Makes you kinda glad that you refused.”

“In a bitter sort of way, yes.” Simon swallowed and then nodded to him before leaving the mess hall. River was staring at the opposite wall. 

“DNA can be split apart but the person will die if unraveled.”

“Very true.” Simon sat down next to her and then exhaled slowly before pulling out some Tim Tam cookies. River gaped at him and then kissed him right on the mouth before ripping into the cookies. 

“I’m going to eat you!”

Blinking, Simon rubbed his lips and then chuckled as his sister moaned at the chocolate and caramel cookies. 

“Happy birthday, River.”

She froze and then stared at him. “Today is the day I was ejected from our mother’s body and drowned before I could breathe.”

Simon snorted. “Ah, that’s one way of putting it, yeah.”

Pursing her lips, River took another cookie and lifted it to his mouth. Laughing, Simon bit into the cookie and then grabbed another cookie of his own and lifted it to her open mouth after she prompted him to do so.

~two months later~

“Ugh…” Simon swallowed and looked around. He was tied up. Shit. Prying his eyes open, Simon looked around and then cursed steadily for a whole minute. Under his breath of course. He saw the unconscious shepherd beside him, also hanging from chains on the wall in a random cargo bay of a ship. 

“Ah! Sleeping Beauty is awake!” 

Simon looked the man over. “First mate. Where’s the captain?”

“On the radio with the nearest Alliance cruiser. There is a pretty penny on your head.”

“Without my sister, I’m afraid you’ll be getting nothing. Best to just let me go now.”

“Ha! Is that what you think? The price on your head is bigger than your sister’s!”

Simon went cold inside. “Where are we?”

“Far away from where your ship is, doc. Don’t you worry about that. Captain Reynolds won’t be finding you any time soon.”

“And the shepherd?”

The man looked uncomfortable for a moment. “Don’t sit well with me killing holy men. We’ll leave him with the Alliance if the captain doesn’t mind.”

“Do you know what they want me for?” Simon swallowed and then felt the ship shudder as another ship docked with it. “They want me for freeing my sister, and they want me for my brain. I’m a genius and they want to experiment with me. Human experimentation. It exists, and that’s what’s laying in wait for me.”

The first mate looked confused and unnerved before shrugging. “Nothing to me. I’m only in this for the coin.”

“Right. Of course.” Simon jerked slightly and looked on as the Alliance officers and crew poured in. He was unchained from the wall, and so was Shepherd Book. The man was just now waking up.

“Wha’s hap’ning?”

“Alliance has us both.”

“Stop talking!” Simon clenched his jaw when the man marching them along shoved him into the shepherd. 

They were put in different cells and left there. Simon paced his cell, looking for all the world as just a nervous man walking, but he was mapping out the room and finding the blind spots for the security camera. He found it and then sat down on his cot and waited. The door opened, and Simon felt his stomach drop. 

“Two by two…” He stared at the two men. “Hands of blue…”

The men smiled and then beckoned him out of the cell. “It seems that you’ve spoken to your sister.”

“She  _ is  _ my sister.”

“And it also seems that you lied to us on that exam so many years ago.”

Simon closed his eyes and walked slowly along. He listened and could hear the breathing. Five guards behind him. Three guards in front of him. The two men on either side of him. They wouldn’t kill him because of his importance. 

“Now that you know the truth, what are you planning on doing with me?”

“You have quite a bit of potential, Simon Tam. Some would say more than your sister. You’re already trained in combat, and are familiar with the movements. Also, you’ve killed before. This will make things easier.”

Simon thought quickly. They were trying to turn his sister into a killer. An assassin? For what purpose? A private, pet assassin for the Alliance? Seemed too dramatic. An elite army to keep down insurgents? _ That’s infinitely more likely, but still, it doesn’t explain my sister’s mental trauma. What did they do to her to crack her mind like that? Combat training wouldn’t do  _ that _ much damage. They went into her brain and scrambled it up. What were they trying to accomplish? And have they mastered the technique on others less lucky than River? Will they be doing this same process to me? Do they want me to be their masterpiece and final product? _ Simon quelled his rising nausea and forced himself to think.

Flexing his hands, Simon breathed out.  _ The gait of the man behind me is uneven. Injury to the knee. _ Simon inhaled slowly and then waited until they were in the lift. He was in the center of the group. Smiling, Simon acted. 

In minutes the men were on the ground. Simon looked at the dripping knives and snorted. “You really should have searched me first.” He stopped the elevator and pulled open the panel before hotwiring it to take him back up to the prison bay. Searching in the blue men’s pockets, he found the passkeys. Pocketing the items, he paused as he found something else.

“What’s this?” He looked the item over and then snorted. “Sonic device…internal hemorrhaging. Interesting…” Straightening, Simon slammed his elbow hard into the solar plexus of the man who had tried to get up and get the drop on him. “Pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen.” The elevator opened and he blinked in surprise as he saw Book taking down the entire cell block security on his own. Quickly, Simon jammed the elevators closed after exiting it. That done he and the shepherd booked it to the stairs. Simon set off the fire alarm and grinned as all the security doors slammed closed.

Moving quickly, he overrode the one leading to the hangar bay. Book covered for him as he hotwired a ship and then used the passkey to get control of the shuttle. 

“Let’s get out of here.”

“You know how to fly this?”

“I gave it a rudimentary look over.” Simon took the shuttle up and away. They landed on the nearest planet and sent a distress call to the Serenity. After that, they hunkered down and waited.

“Where did you learn to fight?”

“My sister and I are able to watch people and emulate those moves on our own. I have the muscles to back up my knowledge because I work out. River is lean and wiry. I have to be strong enough to keep her under control. It’s not really a choice for me.” He shrugged tiredly. “After she nearly threw me off of her during her first massive meltdown, I started doing push-ups and such in my room after she goes to sleep.”

“You don’t have to do it in secret. Jayne and I work out all the time in the bay.”

“You’re muscular. Until I have defined muscles I’m doing it in private, thanks though.” Simon looked him over. “Any injuries to report?”

“Just bruises. Nothing immediate.” Book smiled at him. “Thank you, though…”

They hid in town when the Alliance soldiers searched the entire planet. It was two days before the ships finally left. Simon and Book were shivering as they finally were picked up by Mal and Zoe and Jayne. 

“We couldn’t get in. The Alliance had a blockage around this entire system. Where did you hide?!”

Book gratefully accepted a warm blanket from Kaylee. Simon was shaking still as River clung to him. It was Book who answered Wash’s question. “Simon had the idea of hiding in a water tower.”

“What?!”

Simon swallowed the hot broth and then explained quickly. “The procedure for planetwide searching is life scans and corroborating with censuses taken. The computers would run the numbers and ID anyone not on the list. Also, heat signatures would be scanned, and since it was winter on that planet, the water in the tower would lower our core temperature. I also knew that due to manpower limitations- that Alliance ship we escaped from was relatively small- they wouldn’t be able to give much time to each planet. Though two days was pushing it.”

River adjusted the blankets around his shoulders and then handed him hot tea. Simon slid his fingers around it. Book was enjoying his own tea. 

“And just how did you escape?” Jayne studied both of them.

Simon swallowed. “I was being taken from the cell block to the…” He shot a look at River and then exhaled. “Labs.” Of course this prompted a meltdown from River which interrupted the meeting for a bit. When she was finally quieted down, Simon continued. “While I was being escorted away, Book managed to utilize his…various and sundry skills and started a full scale revolt in the prison bay. That was the only reason my escape wasn’t blocked off by backup. I wasn’t given many guards. They thought that being a doctor meant that I was physically weak. I guess they underestimated me, which was their mistake. Anyways, I managed to set off the alarms and shut down all the doors, slowing down their own progress. Book then joined me and we hijacked a shuttle and landed on the farthest planet that shuttle could take us to. Then we waited for you to pick up our signal that Kaylee’s computers were primed to pick up.”

Mal sat down and then snorted, half with amusement and half with incredulity. “Alright, cut the shit, kid. Tell me what those guys wanted with you in the labs.”


	7. Chapter 7

Simon closed his eyes and then bowed his head slightly. “I’m just as smart as River.” His sister straightened and smiled as he started telling the truth. “The Alliance did approach me, but I was already set in my career path and turned them down. River didn’t. This was what happened to her. Now though, they want a clean slate. Me. As near as I can figure, they are performing human experiments on the brain and mind. I grabbed River when they were halfway through. They want her back to finish the process, and they want me back to finalize the process and create a masterpiece. My sister and I are the same in intellect and skill. Carbon copies if you will. This is a dream come true for the scientists working for the Alliance.” 

River was shaking. “Two by two…hands of blue.”

“Yes. They were there too. In fact, I picked this off of them.” Simon pulled out the device. River stared at it and then at him. 

“Escaping death is the same as cheating death. Impossible. Robbing death is suicide.”

Simon snorted. “I’ve already scanned it. There are no tracking devices in it.”

“What’s with the two by two thing?” Kaylee frowned at him.

“Alliance officers, or two men working in a top secret science company outsourced by the Alliance. It doesn’t matter really. They always show up in as a pair, and they always wear blue gloves. Two by two with hands of blue.” Simon set the device on the table and then leaned back. “If a person activates that, then the people not provided proper protection against the waves, will hemorrhage and their brains will literally explode, prompting bleeding from every orifice.” 

Kaylee blanched. “Get rid of that thing!”

Shrugging, Simon nodded to Mal. “It’s his call. You could sell it to a weapons smuggler if you want. Make a pretty unit off of it too.”

“No. Weapons of mass destruction are out.” Inara looked at Mal. “You can’t consider this, Mal!”

“You’re right. Me giving something like this over to a person would be beggin for it to be used on me. We incinerate it. Kaylee?”

“Gladly.” She snatched it off the table and ran off. Simon exhaled and then finished his tea. River was rubbing his legs. Smiling at her, Simon nodded. “They’re alright, Riv. You can calm down. I won’t get hurt.”

“Stupid. Wasn’t rubbing out of worry.” She crawled straight into his lap and wrapped the blanket around them both. Zoe smiled.

“That is cute.”

“She’s like a killer kitten.” Wash mused quietly. Simon shot him a look.

Standing up, Mal exhaled. “So we not only got one target and wanted a lab rat from the Alliance riding with us, but now two. Why didn’t you tell us this before?”

“I deluded myself into thinking that they had been tricked by me. I was only in the top three percent. Not the very top. All my life, ever since being called a freak, I tried to hang back to the more ‘gifted’ area. I thought that they would be fooled. When they didn’t follow up after my initial rejection, I grew complacent. Now I realize that they were after me all this time too.”

“So those letters from your sister must have been allowed to reach you.” Zoe frowned at him. 

Simon went cold at the realization. “She was bait…” He looked down at his sister. River was still. 

“Bait, noun, food used to entice prey. Synonyms are lure, tempt, induce, and attract.” She stared at her brother. “Trick.”

“Well, it didn’t work.”

“Somethin that they are probly very irritated about.” Mal stood up and then pushed his chair in and studied them. “Neither of you were sposed to see the light of day after you figured out that code of your sister’s.”

“Yes, I’ve gathered that now, Captain.”

“Watch your tone with me, boy. As I figure it, I’m the only person round here willing to help you two out. You’re my crew now. So don’t do anything stupid.”

Simon exhaled and then nodded. “Apologies. I understand, Captain.”

“Shiny. Now, Wash, dinner anytime soon?”

“Right! A splendid seven course meal of imagination and rations coming right up!” 

Simon snorted. “You know what I miss the most?” He looked at Inara with a grin. “Baths.”

She smiled and nodded. “I completely understand.”

River mumbled, “Fruit.” 

“That too.” Simon smiled. “River and I liked gardening, well, River more than I. She had a natural green thumb. I had to work a little harder at it. Speaking of which, Captain. If you are willing, then I could whip up some lighting systems and make a small garden of sorts in one of the spare bedrooms. Artificial sunlight and watering system. We could have our own vegetables and fruits.”

“What would you need?”

“Misters, lighting, good enough soil, starter seeds, fertilizer, things like that.”

“We’ll see what our next job pays and then we’ll work from there.” Mal hummed thoughtfully. “You could increase the production some so we could sell?”

“Not enough room on the ship to be able to make a profit. But it would be good for the kitchen and morale of the crew to have good food sometimes.”

Jayne was grinning at the thought. Kaylee had popped her head in to report the destruction of the device and was beaming at Simon. “Strawberries?!”

“They are more delicate to grow, but after a bit of practice and testing, I’m sure that it could be arranged, sure.” Simon smiled at her. Kaylee whooped and danced a bit with Zoe before turning to the captain. 

“Murder device is destroyed, Captain.”

“Good. Wash, get us to Triumph. That new job ain’t gonna stay open forever.”

“Right! Do you want that before or after dinner?” Wash looked over at him. Zoe rolled her eyes. Book stood up. 

“I can help-” He faltered when his legs gave out. Simon exhaled.

“No damage, but your muscles are still shocked a little.”

Book sat back down with the help of Mal and Kaylee. “Thanks for the heads up.” His voice was dry. Simon smiled innocently, just like his sister for a split second. River grinned at the thoughts. 

“Zoe can continue where you left off. You plot the course and then get back to the kitchen.”

“Slave driver.” Wash kissed his wife and moved quickly to the bridge.

“Imma hungry slave driver!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

When the ship had been put on the right course, and the dinner was made, Simon stood up and accepted River’s silent help by leaning on her. They said goodnight, made the right signals and said the right words. That done, they slipped off to Simon’s room that River was sleeping in. 

Sagging down into his bunk, Simon shook, but this time his shivering had nothing to do with the cold. 

“Simon?”

Looking up at his sister, Simon swallowed. “They’re hands were so blue…but their eyes were so cold. River…I killed more people.” She fell onto the bed and curled up against him, almost trying to burrow inside him. He clung to her and she to him.

It was in that way that they fell asleep. 

~several days later~

Simon frowned when he saw River approaching him with a…pillow? When Book explained the situation, he tried not to smirk. Simon nodded to the man. “I’m sorry. I’ll take care of the bed-”

“That’s not important.” River was beaming at him. “Tell him.”

“Tell him what?” She gave him a look as though she was disappointed in his sudden bout of stupidity. 

She looked at Book. “We want you to marry us.”

Simon gaped, shock flooding him just as a memory of two children sliced through his mind.

_ “I don’t want to get married to any grand man.” River scowled at her mother. “I want to marry Simon!” _

_ “He’s your brother, River. You can’t marry your brother.” _

_ “Why?” _

_ “Because it isn’t the done thing. Enough. Go upstairs and practice your dance.” _

_ “I’m going to marry Simon! I won’t marry anyone else! He’s me! I’m him! We are one in mind!” River turned to her brother. “Tell Mother that no one else can equal us! We cannot marry anyone else because then we’ll be unequally yoked!” _

Snapping back to the present, Simon swallowed and then looked at Book before shaking his head. “River, no…” He studied her. “You remember our parents-”

“No longer variables in the equation. Unimportant data.”

It hurt him that she said it without much emotion. Simon swallowed. “But you do remember what they said, River. You cannot marry me. We are siblings. Marriage within the same DNA is not done.” He amended himself before she could. “Well, on some planets yes, but only on the really bad ones. I am your brother. It would be against natural progression. All our children would be hampered by a limited gene pool. Logic, River. We cannot-”

“Have kids, yes, but marriage is possible.” River had that stubborn look in her eye. “I love you.”

“As a sister. And I love you too, River, but as a brother should.” 

“Because that’s all you let me show you.”

Simon exhaled and turned to Book. “I don’t know where this is coming from. They really changed her. I don’t know what to do…” River’s eyes flashed at his lies. 

“I’ve always wanted to marry you! You’re mine! Not another part to an engine! You above them! Beside me! We are one!”

“River, I do not love you-”

“Love is multifaceted. The captain took a wife!”

“Well…” Book cleared his throat. “That is also complicated.”

Simon felt a flash of irritation at the man for sounding like he was talking to a five year old child.

Grabbing his hands, River smiled at him. “You care about me. Why not love me and be lovers too? What is a small line to people like us? We’ll take care of each other! I’ll do anything! I’ll knit!”

Simon opened his mouth and then paused when Mal and Saffron came down the stairs. In the respite of Mal’s question, Simon took a breath. Still reeling from his sister wanting to marry him, Simon looked this Saffron over. This was the first time he had met her. What he saw off of her was…interesting.

It was clear that River didn’t appreciate the interruption. “You’re a thief!” Simon cleared his throat and gave River a look. She furrowed her brows at him. 

Speaking low, Simon listened with half an ear as Mal lectured the woman about feminism. “River, I know what you see. You’re right. She’s a con artist, but you have to let me be your mouth. I will choose the proper words to convey your meaning.”

She stared at him and then nodded slowly. “Be my husband too.”

“River…not now. I’ll talk to you more about that later.” His voice was filled with warning as he turned back just in time to see Saffron and Book leave.

He stepped over to Mal. “I don’t know if you’re interested to hear about this, considering that everyone seems to be so in love with this…Saffron character, but Mal, River’s right. She’s a thief and not just of stolen foodstuffs. She’s a con artist.” River made a noise, and Simon tensed. He turned fast, but the woman had already struck him and was now dealing with Mal. 

River was screaming and lunging at the woman, but Saffron evaded and fled the scene. Helping him up, River looked towards where Saffron had been. “I’m going to kill her.”

“Don’t bloody your hands on my account.” Simon groaned and rubbed his head. “She packs a mean roundhouse kick. Though crude, it can be very effective.”

“Mal!” Inara rushed over and cradled the man. Simon stopped her from kissing him. 

“I wouldn’t. Saffron turned out to be a con artist. That’s the goodnight kiss.” Inara gaped at Mal, but River spoke up quietly. 

“She accosted him after attacking my brother.” River’s voice was filled with anger.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. What’s more important is that she’s running amok on this ship. Come on!” Simon left Inara with Mal and ran towards the bridge. The damage was already done though, and the bitch was gone.

Checking on Wash, Simon exhaled, completely done with everyone’s stupidity. “Mal didn’t kiss her. She accosted him. Stop being a boring idiot, Book.”

“What caused her to lash out and break cover?” Inara frowned at Mal. The man groaned. 

“Simon approached me after Book was away with the little…bitch. He told me that she was a con artist. He could read it off of her bearing. She must have heard him talk to me and snuck back. Anyways, she knocked him down and took me by surprise. Took us both by surprise. Then she immediately went for the bridge and tried to seduce Wash.”

“I am very lucky that I am very loyal to my wife.” Wash smiled winningly at Zoe, who was helping Simon dress the wound. Mal brought the conversation back to the damage done by the wench. 

After the electricity death net was destroyed, Simon exhaled slowly and then looked at Mal. “You’re going to let her live, aren’t you?”

Turning, Mal looked at him and then nodded. “You know, for a doc, you sure are a might bloodthirsty.”

“Not that, no…” Simon inhaled heavily. “Vengeful? Definitely. She left us for dead, Mal. She’s a vindictive, murderous shrew who needs to be put down. She’s no better than a Reaver! Actually, in a way, she’s worse. She knows the difference between right and wrong. The Reavers are animals, but she’s a human being. She knows that murder for the sake of money is wrong, but she does it anyways. Human life is so meaningless to her that she  _ murders _ for money! She’s a monster, and she’ll murder people again if you don’t do something about it.”

Mal was still as he studied the grating and then exhaled slowly. “You make sense.” He left the ship to collect the shuttle.


	8. Chapter 8

When Mal came back, however, Simon straightened. “You didn’t kill her.” He was surprised. Mal was the first person to disregard his persuasion. 

“Don’t get me wrong. You made a compelling argument, but to kill her in that situation would have made me just as bad as her.” Mal walked up the stairs and entered the bridge. 

Leaning against the wall of the cargo bay, Simon exhaled slowly and then looked up to find Inara. He jogged up the stairs after her and followed her to her shuttle. “Tell him. If you keep shying away, then you’re going to get hurt when he decides to take his affections elsewhere.”

“I don’t know what you-”

“Bullshit.” Simon crossed his arms. “He likes you. You love him.”

“He would want me to give up my job.”

“You don’t really like it anyways.” Simon snorted and looked her up and down.

“Don’t.” 

He ignored her warning tones. “Do you know what I see when I look at you? I see a woman desperate to fit in, to do well for herself, to be her own boss and to be in charge of her life. But I also see a liar, a fake, who doesn’t know how to be vulnerable, who wants to be held but doesn’t know how to ask. Who wants to trust and belong, but doesn’t know the first steps of trusting. I see you holding a secret, something you really can’t let Mal know. I see you scared of being turned down. I see a little girl dressing up in a woman’s world. I see a fake and a cheat who can’t stand the idea of someone faking and cheating her.”

Inara moved to slap him, but Simon grabbed her wrist. “I see your love for him, but what will happen when he meets another woman who he likes a lot and who is willing to be vulnerable, to know how to say those all important words, ‘I love you’? What will you do? Cry and mope and moan? You’re a quitter. You always escape and lie to yourself. That’s all you do. Stand up, Inara, and take what you want for once. You want a man who will honor and respect you and love you and hold you when you want to cry and want to be vulnerable. You want a man who will keep you safe and worry about the big world problems for once. You want to be a woman, not a lady, not a high class prostitute, but a woman, and you know Malcome Reynolds is the only man in your life who can do that. He loves you. What  _ are  _ you waiting for?”

“Why hasn’t he said anything?”

“Because you’re as cold as ice and want things to stay professional.” Simon crossed his arms and studied her. “So he does what you say you want. He’s not a mind reader, why are you expecting him to be one?”

Inara flushed and looked down. “Fine. I’ll…tell him.”

“Now.” Simon nodded towards where Mal was coming up the stairs. 

“With you here?!”

“Of course. I’m sick and tired of the running around and the lovesick stares. I want to witness this.”

“What’s goin on?”

Inara breathed out and then looked at Mal. “I love you.”

He blinked. “Wha? Oh…kay…” He looked at Simon and then swallowed and rubbed his hands on his trousers. “So…strictly professional is…gone now?”

“Yes.” Inara swallowed and looked at him. “But I’m still paying the rent, and I’m not technically part of the crew.”

“And your…job?” Mal swallowed. “Cause I’d really like the strictly professional to turn into strictly monogamous.”

“I can take a break from it and…see where we go. We might not…not be good as lovers. Um, so I’ll just have a fall back plan to-”

“Sounds okay with me. Can I kiss you know?”

“That’s my cue to leave.” Simon left them kissing and wrapped up in each other’s arms.

Jayne huffed. “You completely ruined the betting pool.”

“But I saved myself from migraines.” Simon gave him a look and then walked away. 

~one week later~

He saw his sister in their room and groaned. “River, enough with stuffing your shirts with pillows. You are not pregnant.” His sister scowled at him.

“I could be.”

“You said previously that children are unnecessary.” 

“Science is advanced. DNA stripped and shifted, genetics can be saved and programmed. I want to be impregnated by you.”

Simon faltered and then sat down and stared at her. “River…these feelings that you’ve always had…when did they start?”

She looked down. “When you kissed Sarai Dali under the maple. I wanted to hurt her. No one deserves you.”

“Except you?”

“No. I don’t deserve you.” River swallowed. “Burden.”

Exhaling in a rush, Simon pushed their current topic aside and pulled her against him. “River, no. You’re not a burden.”

“You should be in a hospital. Saving lives. You didn’t want me to go. You’re suffering.”

“Because of the Alliance. We are both suffering because of the Alliance. River, think. Use that big brain of yours. What would have happened if you hadn’t gone? They would have done something worse to us in getting us to join them. They would have blackmailed our father, frozen his accounts, ruined our careers, anything to get us to heel to them.”

River stared at him intently and then nodded slowly. “Logical.” She crawled into his lap and tucked her head under his chin. Simon chuckled softly and rocked her back and forth gently. 

He should have known his sister was up to something. River jerked away and then planted a kiss straight on his mouth. His shock lasted three point eight seconds before he was pulling away, but he was sitting on the bed, so by pulling away, he actually fell backwards onto his bed. River straddled him and rolled her hips. 

“Too much clothes.”

“River, stop this.” Simon stared at her. She stared down at him, hands resting on his wrists, pushing them into the mattress. 

She undulated her body and bent lower. “You love me. And I love you. Siblings can love physically. You’ve kissed my forehead.”

“Platonic love, River. Let me up.”

“No.” 

“River-” She kissed him and then smiled as she continued to move against him. 

“I want you. Why won’t you want me too?”

“You are my sister. My mind does not equate you with a possible lover.”

“It should.”

“River, let me go.”

“Never.” Simon flipped them immediately and twisted them around until her hands were bound by his behind her back. 

“River, I do not love you in that way.”

“Do you know what love is?”

“Of course.”

Her eyes glinted. “So you’ve fallen into pure, romantic love before?”

Simon cursed inside his head. River giggled. 

“You’re taking others’ opinions as your own. Biased observation.”

Letting her go, Simon exhaled slowly and stared at her. “Enough. We aren’t having this conversation again.”

“Dream of me tonight.” River smiled at him and then pulled him into a tight hug before dashing out of the room. 

Simon stood up slowly and swallowed. He hurried to where Book was reading his Bible. “Shepherd…about that time you witnessed River asking you to marry us…”

“It’s forgotten.” The man smiled at him. “Don’t worry about it, son.”

Nodding to him, Simon smiled. “Thanks.”

“And thank you. You saved my life. I don’t think I’ve thanked you enough for that. It was your quick thinking that had us evade capture.”

“And it was my dumbass who got you involved in my capture.” Simon rolled his eyes.

“Did I just hear you swear?!” Kaylee grinned at him gleefully. 

Giving her a look, Simon snorted. “I swear all the time. You just don’t hear it.”

“And when do you do all this swearing? After I go to bed?”

Simon moved to answer but frowned when he heard something in his infirmary. What he saw there… 

“What…in the universe happened here?!”

“Now would be a really good time for a swear.” Kaylee sounded shocked. Simon didn’t blame her as he took in the wreckage that Jayne had turned his infirmary into.

“Looking for tape.”

“So you tore my infirmary apart?!”

“Apparently.”

“You’re like a trained ape.” Simon turned and stared at the man. “Except…without the training but the same IQ level.” 

Mal came in before Jayne could pound him for that.

Things couldn’t get any worse in his opinion until he was coerced into going out to the mud maker planet. Simon looked at the man and then dodged the man’s hand and chuckled. “Your foreman is sleeping with your wife.”

The man went still and then turned violently around and glowered at the chalk pale man. “I KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING GOING ON!”

Simon cleared his throat and spoke over the ensuing fight and literal mud slinging. “Now, I believe we shall take a look around the town, Captain.” He ducked a lob of mud and watched it splat against Jayne’s face with great satisfaction. 

They entered the mudders’ town only to stop and stare at a statue of Jayne. Simon blinked rapidly. “This must be what going mad is like.” And then they heard the song. Simon covered his face tiredly. “Nope. This is what going mad feels like.” He set his drink down and exhaled. “I’m going back to the ship. It’s too loud here and I’m worried what River’s up to.”

Kaylee frowned. “You’re wrapped too tightly around your sister. You need to cut loose some, Simon.”

Laughing without humor, Simon shook his head. “Kaylee, I didn’t ask for your frankly uninformed opinion on what I should do. Before you go giving me advice, you need to consider how you would have reacted if your sister was alive and like River. How would you be? Hmm?” He straightened his things and left. 

Of course, when he, Wash, and the Captain got back to the ship, Simon blinked. “Hey, Zoe, before you go, why are you and Book huddled near the wall?”

“Erm, River’s in there, hiding from the shepherd’s hair.”

“There’s too much of it!” River’s voice echoed from where she was hiding. Simon exhaled tiredly before crouching beside Book. 

“River, it’s Simon. Come on out.”

She crawled out and then scuttled behind him to avoid Book. “Symbolism of fear and mayhem.”

Simon hid his smirking. “Don’t worry, River. The hair won’t get you. Come on. You and I both need a bath.”

River clung to his side and whispered to him, “Together?”

“No.”

“They tell me I cannot swim. No oxygen to be found under water. I don’t have gills.”

Simon figured that this was going to be her next trick. The sad thing was, he didn’t know if this was a trick or if she really couldn’t wash herself. He had always gotten Zoe to help him, since the older woman was more…capable and willing to get wet and filthy. River disliked cooperating with Kaylee on bad days. Inara wasn’t a person he would ask to be someone’s nursemaid. 

However, Zoe was busy cleaning up her own husband/baby. Soo…that was that. 

Swallowing, Simon exhaled. “River, I swear, if you do anything unbecoming of a sister, then I will grow hair like Shepherd Book’s.” The horror in her eyes showed him that she took his word as truth. He would do it too. She knew that.

“Vikings threw children into the water with a command to swim or die.” River flounced off. 

“River, you’re being a brat again.”

“River is River, and Simon is a stick in the mud.”

“What?!”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> River finally gets what she wants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the end there is non-con. Just a warning.

River woke him up by bouncing on him. “It’s your birthday! It’s your birthday!” 

Shushing her, he tackled her and pulled her against him and smacked her face with a pillow. She retaliated by grabbing her own pillow and whalloping him with it. They started laughing hysterically and giggling like children again. Finally River actually leaped upon him and started tickling him.

“NO! RIVER STOP! HAHAHA! STAAAAHP! YOU SWORE NEVER TO DO THIS SINCE YOUR SEVENTH BIRTHDAY!”

The others rushed in, thinking that River was murdering him or something. Kaylee started snickering while Mal and Jayne laid bets on River coming out the victor. Zoe spoke up. “Ten on Simon.”

“You’re on!” Kaylee was grinning.

Simon gave a warcry and twisted out of River’s grip and started tickling her instead. He knew all the spots. She was shrieking and laughing and acting truly her age. Finally, she yelped out, “DINOSAURS!”

Simon immediately stopped and grinned as he lifted his hand up. “The winner!”

Wash blinked. “That’s a strange surrender cry. Not that I’m complaining. I love dinosaurs. I think there should be more of them in life, but why…?”

“When we were younger, River often played games with me. Strategy games. We would look at all the battles in the unification war and see what either side did wrong. She often played the Alliance while I played the Independents. Sad thing was, I often lost to her because she kept pulling out dinosaurs as secret weapons.”

River was grinning. “Ate all his men up. Dinosaurs are herbivorous, but exceptions can be made to every rule.”

Rolling his eyes, Simon pulled on a shirt and then tossed River’s pillow back to her. “Clean up, young one.”

“Babbling Brook turned into a Stream, and then into a mature River.” Her look was one of reproach. Simon snickered and then nodded. 

“Fine, fine.”

The others left them to get ready. 

~dinner~

Simon cleared his throat when everyone looked at him. He wetted his lips and then shrugged. “To be completely honest, I don’t have many funny stories. The hospital isn’t all that…much of a joke shop…”

“Come on.” Kaylee smiled at him. “There’s gotta be something that comes to mind when we say ‘funny’.”

Simon opened his mouth but River spoke. “Submarines are silent and come in the night.” Her eyes were gleaming with vicious humor. Simon gaped at her and then burst out laughing. 

“O-okay. I can tell that.” He shifted and looked at them all. “This wasn’t part of the actual hospital. It was during my education, the university. Now, you gotta understand the type of people who go to these sorts of places. They drive their daddy’s best speeder car and crash it and only sulk about getting their clothes wrinkled.” Mal rolled his eyes.

“Got it. Snots.”

“Very much. There is one kid, Ratticus Maximillian Fortescue. I honestly don’t know what his parents were on when they named him, but whatever.” Kaylee snickered. “He fancied himself a genius. I had the misfortune of meeting him during my first semester at the hellhole known as Osiris Medical University. Everyone called it Ohmew. You all know how I started acting like a normal gift person. I started becoming the grey man way back in my eighth grade year. Not so with this guy. He was answering every question,  _ debating with the teachers _ when they told him he was wrong. So, I started urging other students to be more proactive in answering questions, just slipping comments like the guy deserves egg on his face for once. Things like that. After a bit, the teacher doesn’t even need to pick him for answers, but the guy  _ doesn’t stop _ .”

Simon snorted and shook his head. “By this time everyone, and I do mean  _ everyone _ , is getting irritated with him. Quite a few were thinking of having him volunteer for the weekly cadaver we had to dissect. Anyways, at Ohmew, there’s a sort of medical camp. Survival of the fittest, who can help save a village with various and sundry diseases and more bad luck with accidents than you can count. The top ten medical students are assigned to go and keep a record of everything they did so they could share and teach the rest of the class. Obviously, he barely scrapes to the tenth spot, but he makes it out like he’s number one, trying to take charge of the group and designate jobs.”

Jayne snorted. “Don’t even know this guy and I wanna punch him.”

“Exactly.” Simon snorted. “I was talking to River, just venting on video call, and she told me to submarine him.”

Everyone leaned forward. River was giggling like a madwoman. 

“Soo, I gathered all the other eight students around and let them know my plan. Took a bit of time to gather all the necessary ingredients to cook his goose.” Simon started grinning. “By this time the village- made of up actors paid by the hospital- are growing sick and tired of this guy also. Well, eventually, all the things are gathered. Just normal household things.” Simon ticked them off his finger. “Five gallons of mud, about a hundred yards of string, two gallons of honey, two buckets of water melted from eight hundred or so ice cubes.”

Inara was covering her mouth while the others were slowly grinning. Simon raised his hands. “So, it was my job to dope him so he wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the night. When I did that, I gave the signal and we all went to work. You should have seen his place after we were done. The rutting fool should have taken it as a sign when no one could tolerate staying in the same cabin as him. He was all alone and ours. His cabin looked like it was attacked by demented spiders. We poured honey all over him, between his toes and around his hair and up and around his bed. We spread mud all over his clothes and windows, and tied strings in and around all his stuff. The thing was, everything was connected by the string. I hooked it up so that a string- once pulled- would pull a switch and cause a camera to start filming him and live stream it straight to every student’s device who had to suffer a class with him.”

Kaylee was gaping at him while leaning against Mal and snickering. Mal was snorting into his drink. Jayne was grinning along with Zoe and Wash. Book was attempting to look disapproving. 

“When morning came, everyone heard his scream.” Simon started laughing as the memory came to him fully. “We all came out to see. He must have started pulling on the strings immediately, because we heard everything on his desk come crashing to the floor.” Kaylee yelped out a laugh. “When he finally pushed open the door two buckets full of ice water came crashing down on him, and his scream was so high it could have been heard clear to Osiris without my recording device!”

Zoe waved her hands. “Didn’t you get into trouble?!” She was still laughing. 

Shaking his head, Simon snorted. “His parents definitely heard about it, but none of the actors told on us, and we didn’t dare step forward. The board could never find out who did it, thinking it was only one of us. They never thought about the possibility that it was  _ all _ of us screwing the guy over. He was never taken seriously again, and ended up having to change schools.” Simon snorted and shook his head. “The crazy thing was that the professor of our class actually figured it out. He snuck us badges of honor for upholding the dignity and morale of the class. I was given a badge that said ‘Prince of Pranks’. I still have it!”

Wash lost it. “Badges of Honor! Prince of Pranks! I love it!”

But all good things must come to an end, and right when Kaylee set his chocolate cake brick down, River gasped. “Simon! Fire!” And then the explosion happened.

It was after the meeting that Inara moved to Mal and clung to him, silently asking for a hug. He pulled her into one and then kissed her temple. Kaylee blinked.

“Wait. Hold on. You both waited until we are dying to let us know that you both are dating?! No one knew about this?!”

Simon coughed slightly and burrowed into his part of the couch. Mal nodded to him. “Jayne saw us first kiss, and Simon hooked us up. Other than that…no.”

“And Inara’s still continuing her job?” Kaylee looked at him in shock. Mal shrugged.

“Inara showed me exactly what she does with a client of hers and it was almost…clinical. Her body is hers, but her heart is mine.” Mal closed his eyes and then rested his forehead against Inara’s. “But keep that body of yours safe, Inara.”

“Mal, you can come with us-”

“I gotta stay just in case someone picks up the signal.” He kissed her hand. “I gotta. You know this.”

She swallowed and blinked back her tears. Simon helped River up and over to their shuttle after gathering his supplies.

It was a good thing for Inara that everything turned out alright. 

~time goes by~

Simon sighed tiredly and looked at the city from outside the viewport. “I’ve been to Ariel before.” He looked over at Zoe tiredly. “Both River and I have. Back before…before. We were kids then. Our parents took us to a lake and we went hiking…” He chuckled tiredly. “River and I split off from our parents. They claimed we were lost, but we weren’t. We knew exactly where we were. Away from them.” Simon sat down on the co-pilot chair and looked over the switches and controls. He understood it immediately. Something inside him sagged at yet another puzzle solved.

“Your parents weren’t close?”

“Divorce is doable, but it does bring some modicum of shame. Mother and Father stayed together because of us and because of what the neighbors would say.”

“You make it sound like your life was hell.”

“It was bliss compared to what people out there have to deal with, but in a way…your lives were much better. You wanted to get a ship and leave and travel? No one in the family stopped you. No one expected you to continue the job that your great-great-great-grandfather did. No one thinks you should know all the latest dances and all the names of all the governors in all the Alliance. You could be who you wanted to be. Say and think and act the things and ways you want. That’s freedom. I’d rather freedom wrapped in mud than imprisonment wrapped in gold ribbon.”

“There’s something to what you say.” Zoe exhaled and then shook her head. “I’ll be glad to get off this planet.”

They wandered down to the mess. Simon smiled and pulled River over to the food and then started dishing it out for her. If you could call it food…

Of course all good things came to an end when River slashed Jayne across the chest. Simon stared at his sleeping sister and then rubbed his face tiredly. He couldn’t do anything to help her without the proper… He jerked upward and stared at the medical kit he had. “That’s it…of course.” The rest of the plan rushed through him. 

Jumping up, he hurried to Mal.

~at the hospital~

Simon knew that there was something wrong with Jayne. He just didn’t have enough time to figure it out. Swallowing, he looked around as the officers watched them. Closing his eyes, he breathed out. He had always been fascinated with how the human mind could compartmentalize pain.

“Control…control…” 

“Simon, no…” River stared at him in pain and fear. “Don’t.”

“Shh, it’s okay.” Simon dislocated his wrists and slipped out of his cuffs before relocating them again. The pain was distant in his head. He shoved it into the basement of his memory map. “It’s okay…”

Moving quickly, he lunged for one guard and then used him as a literal meat shield and picked off all the others. He hit the fire alarm and then grabbed the keys of the lead officer’s corpse and unlocked Jayne and River. “Go!”

Grabbing a gun of his own, Simon took rear while Jayne covered the front, and River took the middle part. 

Simon heard screaming of the survivors he had left. “Brains imploding inside their skulls.” River stared at him with wide eyes.

“Two by two-”

“Hands of blue. They’re here.” Simon pushed her towards the stairs. “Move it!” He looked behind him again and then hung back and made sure River and Jayne were clear then he hid behind the stairs and waited.

The men came down, and Simon stepped out. “Hello.” He shot them both in the backs and then ran after where Jayne and River were. He rushed through the doorway and blinked at Mal. “Hello there. Those two are the hands of blue fellows, by the way.” He pointed to the men behind him that he dealt with. 

Mal nodded. “Good to have a face without the names. Let’s go.” 

Pausing, Simon nodded. “Right. Names.” He hurried back and searched the men more thoroughly. He found what he was looking for. “Blue Sun Corp. Dines Rum and Geofrey Rhett.” He slipped their things back into their pockets exactly as they were before and then turned and ran. “Now we know who’s following us for the Alliance.”

River stared behind them and then jumped into the shuttle.

When they arrived at the ship, Simon said absolutely nothing, but Jayne could see in his eyes that he knew what Jayne had done. Simon knew that he didn’t have to inform the captain. Mal had figured it out already. Taking his sister, Simon nodded to both Inara- who was busy being greeted with a kiss by Mal- and Kaylee- who no doubt wanted to be greeted by a kiss.

When he made it to his bunk, he sat River down and started looking through the read-outs. By the time he was finished, he had figured out a method to the scientists’ clear madness. He arranged the syringe and then looked at his sister, who was drawing some Russian Doll designs.

“Psychic Assassin. So fantastical that it just might be possible. Your brain is now so vulnerable that it can pick up brainwaves of other people. And you’re smart enough to translate those waves into something you can actually understand. River…you are a telepath.”

“Noun, a person with the ability to communicate thoughts and emotions beyond the known senses.” She stared at him intently. “Me?”

“You. They turned you into a telepath. These voices you’re hearing aren’t signs of mental disorders. They’re other people’s thoughts cramming into your head. River, what you need to do is push those thoughts out of your head. You need to learn to control yourself and discipline your mind.”

“How?”

“Meditation and practice. Also, with the drugs that I now have, I can get your mind into a more lucid and calm state for you to feel balanced enough to start meditating. Eventually, you won’t need drugs. You will be able to manage yourself on your own.”

She smiled at him and then climbed into his lap and actually fell asleep. Her last words were, “Brilliance of the sun reflects on the moon.” He chuckled softly and then undressed and got into his pajama bottoms. That done, he swiftly undressed River and then dressed her in her sleep dress also. Then, he climbed into bed and passed out.

River opened her eyes immediately and studied her brother’s sleeping face. She waited until his breathing was steady and deep and then she reached down and slid her hand (she made sure that it was perfectly body temperature to make it less noticeable) down his pants and closed her eyes as she slowly and gingerly explored the man she loved. When she had fully explored him, she was pleased to feel that he was completely erect. Looking at him, she pressed her lips together thoughtfully and then slipped out of bed and hurried to the infirmary. No one was there. Grabbing what she needed, she quickly moved back to bed and then closed the door to their bunk silently. 

Leaning over, River smiled. “In search for truth, a seeker will never stop until a thirst is quenched.” She injected the sleep aid into her brother, keeping in mind the dosage and his height and weight. She didn’t want to hurt him. When she was certain he was completely out, she pulled off the blankets, and her dress, before straddling him slowly. “No pain, no gain.” She relaxed herself and slowly sank down onto him. Her mouth dropped open in a shocked ‘O’. Eyes fluttering closed, she tilted her head up as she sank herself fully down. “S-Simon…”


	10. Chapter 10

Simon stirred slowly, feeling more groggy than usual. “Ugh…” He looked around and saw River not far away. She was sitting upside down on her own bunk and staring at the ceiling.

“There are eighty-seven rivets on our ceiling.”

“How many times did you count them?”

“Eighty-seven. I like being equal.” Simon snorted and then stood up. He felt very relaxed. Stretching, he nodded and then started his morning regimen. Twisting around, River followed him with her eyes. “You’re beautiful. Like a sleek mongoose.”

He blinked at her and then looked at his face. “I guess so. It’s not a particularly compli- oh wait.” Simon snorted. “Mongoose is a smart creature that kills snakes and can be vicious when roused, but they are loyal to family nests. Right. You, River, are a cat.”

“Why?”

“Because you can cut deep and be playful in the same breath.” 

She stuck her tongue out at him. Simon frowned when he noticed that she was walking a bit funny. “River, were you hurt during our chase the other day?”

“Pain is subjective.” She left the room. Simon blinked. 

“Brat.”

They picked up Shepherd Book from the abbey four days later, and obviously the man figured out what the crew had gotten into. Simon exhaled slowly as he studied the extent of the surgeries. He’d have to create new drugs. There was nothing on the market that stifled emotions like the amygdala did. He’d have to go through the neurotransmitters  _ and _ create a new hormone set for her. Rubbing his face, Simon was so deep in thought that he nearly missed Book’s question about Shan-Yu, the warrior poet who wrote complete trash.

Later that day, Zoe, Book, and Jayne came back with a bag of money, no pilot or captain, and all the medicine. Simon frowned. “What happened?”

Zoe tensely explained the situation and then looked around. “I’m going in, and I’ll need all the spare cash you can part with.”

Simon nodded and moved to his bunk. River was watching intently as Inara and Book also went to their bunks. Jayne moved too, muttering about how this plan was suicide.

It wasn’t much time later that Simon looked over at his sister. “River, protect the ship, protect Kaylee, and protect yourself. Trust whatever instincts they put inside you. You can take what they gave you and use it under your own control. Okay? Just go with it.” She stared at him intently and then nodded. 

“Understood.”

“Good.” Simon grabbed his throwing knives and then a couple of Jayne’s smoke grenades. He accepted the gun from Book and studied it.

“Ever fight with that before?” Book frowned at him.

“No.” Simon lifted it up and then loaded it with ammo and aimed accurately, and then he flicked off the safety catch. “But I get the gist of it.”

The man chuckled. “Good to have you on our side.” Simon snorted and then turned and looked at his sister, who was lurking in the shadows. He nodded to her once and then turned away and focused on Zoe.

Simon edged over to Book and then closed his eyes. “Footsteps in the left hallway. Eight men coming that way. Seven from the right.” He opened his eyes and looked at Zoe, who was smirking. 

“Right then. Simon, you and Book cover each other. Jayne, you can cover Wash while he covers me. I’ll take point.”

“Right.”

“Whatever you do, don’t lose this ground.” She looked at Simon, who smiled and nodded.

The three of them quickly advanced. Simon pulled out two smoke grenades, rolled out into the main room and then launched them. He then stayed down, closed his eyes and muttered, “Can’t look, Simon. Can’t peek, Simon.” He had never been more grateful for his uncle’s safety and self-defense training as then. Rich kids were targets for kidnappings. Simon had never gotten kidnapped after that one time when he killed all the men and women responsible on his own and walked out with the building on fire. Focusing on the matter at hand, Simon quickly shot all the men before standing up and jerking around when he heard Book shoot. He noticed the man who had snuck up on him through the smoke.

Book regarded him. “Cautious is a good way to survive.”

“But life would be boring!” Simon’s heart was pumping. It had been a long time for him.

“Son, you have problems.”

“I’m a genius.” He shot three men behind him before beginning to reload under cover. “It’s part of the job description.” Book laughed.

They quieted when more people came. Simon turned and looked at Kaylee. “Go back to the ramp Kaylee. River’s got your back.”

“What?” He smiled and nodded to her.

“Never underestimate my sister. She loves that ship and all the crew. She’ll take care of you. Just trust her.” Then, he leaped out and spun out knives, killing three men. He heard Book’s gun click and tossed him his before pulling out two long knives and moving fast and close to the others down the right hall. Spinning like he was performing a twisted dance of blood and gore, Simon kept on killing and slicing and ending lives. Eventually, the men fell back and relied on guns, forcing him to take cover with Book. 

Jayne’s shout for backup caused both him and Book to leave Kaylee, but Simon trusted his sister. He really did.  _ River, I know you can hear me. Cover Kaylee now. Take her gun and do what you know you do best. Protect. _

Her mind brushed against his, no words, only emotions. Understanding and acceptance.

Simon pushed forward and shot more bullets and threw more blades.

They caught up to Mal and the others. Simon looked over at Niska and then grabbed him and slammed him against the wall and whispered something to him. Niska shakily pointed to the table. “Book, that’s the money Zoe brought in. Take it but search the bag for boobeytraps first. He told me where it was a little too easily.”

Book snorted and obeyed. Simon tilted his head and then looked at Jayne. Jayne grinned and grabbed the old man and tied him up to the same stretcher Mal was put on. Simon cleared his throat. “Alright…let’s meet the real you.” Book straightened. 

“Simon, no-”

Whipping out two knives, Simon sliced Niska’s belly open. “Uninterrupted…this will cause you to suffer for hours before you die. Just a little token of esteem from all the others who have suffered by your hand. Bye now.” Simon waved and then turned and left. “Go on. I’ll lock up.” Jayne was grinning as he helped the others get back to the ship. Simon overrode the locking sequence and fixed it with an infinity lock instead. No one was getting in there short of blowing open the doors, and thanks to Niska’s paranoia, that would take some doing. The maniac would be dead and his empire destroyed. 

Simon, on his way back, grabbed some loot and then some charges. With a grin, he activated and primed them before hightailing it out of there. “HURRY! MOVE IT!”

They disengaged Serenity and then, as they pulled away, felt a rocking explosion. Simon exhaled and then shrugged at Mal’s look. “That was the sound of a space station exploding.”

Wash frowned. “So Niska’s dead then?”

“Negative.” Simon smiled at River and pulled her into a hug before pulling away and looked at Mal. “The room he tortures in is separate from the station. It has its own life support and heavy infrastructure that would protect it from any blast. His station is gone. His soldiers are dead. His money that was in his office is also destroyed. But he’s alive, and he is being informed by the computer system I saw that room have about what is happening. That guy is ruined. He’s dying and never coming back up to the glory he used to have.” Simon exhaled. “Funny how an empire can fall within a day. You, infirmary. Now.”

River giggled. “Nothing in the verse can stop us.”

“Damn straight.” Simon winked at her and then pushed both Jayne and Mal and Wash into the infirmary. Everyone stared at them with wide eyes. 

It was later that Simon was approached by Wash and Zoe. “What you said to us on our first time meeting you…well, said about me.” Wash cleared his throat. “Anyways, I want to know if I can have kids. Zoe is insisting and…”

Simon nodded. “That’s easy enough to find out. Come inside.” He glanced at Zoe. She was smiling.

~some weeks later~

Looking through the trials that he was doing for River’s drugs, Simon faltered at the sounds of an argument. Glancing up, he sighed and leaned against the railing and studied Mal and Inara. She wanted him to give up smuggling and become a respectable trader through official channels. He didn’t want to work through Alliance and pro-Alliance governments. Thus, an argument was made.

Not wanting to get involved but needing to get to the infirmary just the same, Simon found himself in a quandary. Exhaling, he decided. Slipping past them, Simon groaned when his elbow was snagged by Inara. “Tell him that what I’m saying is true!”

“Though your side does have a logical argument backing it, you also need to consider Mal’s emotional wellbeing.” Simon looked at the sulking (not that he would ever admit it) captain. “Mal would be miserable, Inara. What you two need to ask each other is if you love each other unconditionally or with conditions. If you love each other conditionally, then that leads you to list what those conditions are. Keep in mind, don’t be overly sentimental and foolish. Everyone loves conditionally. Everyone. You wouldn’t love Mal if he raped someone. That means you have a condition on your love. Mal, you wouldn’t love Inara if she turned in your crew to the Alliance. That shows you have a conditional love for her. Now, identify these conditions and then move on from there. And leave me out of it.” 

Simon paused on the stairs. “And give each other definitions of what you think key-words are. What do you think love is? What is loyalty? Affection? Things like that. List out what is important to you and what those definitions are, and then  _ communicate without arguing _ .” Rolling his eyes, Simon grumbled. “And go to Book next time you want marriage counseling. I’m a doctor, not a therapist.” That done, he hurried away and found himself in the lounge area outside the infirmary. 

Peace was eluding him today though, because Wash and Zoe were there, also arguing. This argument was about having a child. 

“I don’t think we should involve a helpless little human in our dangerous lives. Zoe, we don’t go a day without someone getting injured. What would happen to you, if you got pregnant and then got knocked down and lost the baby? What would happen to us?! Some couples don’t survive things like that. I don’t want to put us through that horrorshow if we can wait a little while longer.”

“And when will it be ready? This is our life, Wash! If we can’t live our lives to the fullest, then what’s the use of living?! The fullest for me includes a child!”

“Would you really lock yourself down in the security of the ship for nine months? You’d go insane, Lamby-pie. And then when you get out and about, something would happen. This ship isn’t exactly swimming in good luck.”

They turned and stared at Simon, who raised his hands. “No. I’m done with being a therapist. Talk to Book.”

“Do you think I could have a child in a life like this? As a doctor, what do you say?”

Simon swallowed and then exhaled. “Okay,  _ if _ you got pregnant, you would have to give up several things for the safety of your child. You would need to avoid sparring and training, alcohol, high stress situations, caffeine, locations where you could receive second hand smoking, combat situations, and this would only be for when you’re pregnant. After the birth, the child will need vaccinations. You would either nurse or give the baby formula. Nursing is tedious and painful or so I’ve heard and enlarges the breasts, making combat a bit trickier for a fighting woman. Formula is expensive in the outer planets. Also, you would have to watch the baby when it grows old enough to crawl and walk. As you can see, there are several stairs and hatches. You also need to consider the outside threats as well. Reavers, pirates, other Neskas, Badger- who is suspiciously quiet by the way- and others who have become enemies, not to mention the Alliance- who is not above holding people hostage, including children. Now, I may be seeing the negative slant to things-”

“No. You’re absolutely right.” Wash looked at Zoe. “It would be irresponsible of us to have a child now.”

“What then?” Zoe swallowed and looked at her husband. 

Simon spoke up quietly. “Either a child or your job here. Once the child is old enough to handle itself properly in dangerous situations, then you could bring it back to the ship and take up your old job, but that’s up to you, Wash, and Mal. Excuse me.” He slipped into the infirmary and closed the doors behind him. 

After that, he sunk himself deep into his research and experiments. By the time he surfaced, River was holding a tray of food for him. “You missed lunch and dinner.”

He blinked and then looked at the clock. “Wow…”

She laughed and then set the food down on the counter. Her mind brushed against his questioningly. Simon smiled at her progress. She used to be able to only do that when he initiated contact by consciously speaking to her mind. Taking her silent question and answering it, Simon waved to his things. “Working on chemically providing you a new amigdala.” Her eyes widened as she poured over his research. 

“Missing data.” She pointed to what she had noticed. Simon frowned and then pulled up the scans. 

“Well shit. That makes things much simpler.” 

She giggled. Simon took a bite of the food and then faltered at it. “Did you make this?” She nodded, wary. He smiled and gave her a little bow of gratitude. “It’s good. Thank you.”

“You always take care of me.” Her eyes were filled with intensity. “I love you.”

Tensing, Simon kept his walls tight so she couldn’t read his mind. Swallowing his food, he nodded to her. “I love you too, mei mei.”

Irritation colored her eyes, but she didn’t clarify what she was irritated about. Him blocking her out, or him adding her relation to him when he said that he loved her. 

The moment passed, and River continued looking through his work. “This one.”

“I was thinking the same thing.” Simon looked up when Jayne entered. “Yes?”

“You two will have to stay in your bunk. Mal’s brought Saffron on board for a joint job. He doesn’t want you two being recognized by her.”

Simon looked at his experiments. “I can’t allow anyone in this infirmary without me. I’m doing very fragile experiments within it. Anything could corrupt it.”

“Right. I’ll let the captain know. Come on then. March.”

Simon scoffed but grabbed his notes and food and locked up after River left the room. They went to their bunk. River stared at him after Jayne left. “He’s afraid.”

“Yeah. Afraid we’ll tell the others what he did to us.”

“I don’t trust him.”

“You’d be a dummy if you did.” 


	11. Chapter 11

Simon exhaled and then nodded to his bed. “Kept everything down today?”

She blushed slightly at the reference to her vomiting on his bed. “Yes.”

“Good.” He smiled at her and then slumped onto the bed. “Can’t wait until Saffron is gone.”

“She’s a liar.”

“That she is.”

~some hours later~

Simon looked over when Jayne woke up. After freaking the guy out about his spine, Simon leaned over and spoke softly. “Mal may have corrected you on your behavior, but I think it’s time that it came out. River and I both know that you reported us to the authorities on Ariel. However, I also know that you tried to get us out of the hospital twenty minutes before. Meaning, you had a change of heart even during the heist. So, here’s the deal. River sliced you a good one. For that, you got us back by turning us in. You undid that action by helping us get out and undoing your mistake. I think we’re even. So, we could continue growing and circling each other like rabid dogs, or we can be civilized about things and just trust each other and move on. The choice is yours.” Simon walked out of the infirmary. He heard River’s words though and chuckled.

She caught up to him and gave him a curious look. 

“You can’t stop his heart with your mind, River. You don’t have that strong a connection to other people’s minds. You would have, but I interrupted their surgeries.”

She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. The threat doesn’t need to be followed up on to be scary.”

Snickering, Simon shrugged. “Alright then.”

~meanwhile~

“Sir, we finally have the footage.” The soldier came into the office and handed the device to the two men. 

Inserting the chips into their computer, they watched both Simon and River Tam fight. “And that boy can do all that without even a single surgery. Why are his eyes closed?”

The man at the computer zoomed in on his lips and read them. “Don’t look, Simon. Don’t peek, Simon.”

“He then proceeds to put a bullet in each man’s brain…imagine him as a psychic.”

“Look at her.” The footage of River was pulled up. “She doesn’t look surprised at her skill.”

“That’s worrisome. She’s adjusting quickly.”

“Meaning she is quickly becoming more dangerous by the day. How is Mr Neska?”

“Dead. Simon Tam made him suffer for it though by not cutting the descending aorta deep enough. Very gruesome way to die, disembowelment.”

“He’s already a killer.”

“Yes. It’s a pleasant development.”

~back to Serenity~

River jerked sharply and stared at Simon. “No…”

“River?” Simon quickly called to her mind as well as her ears and soothed her with a lullaby he used to sing to her when she was a child. River calmed immediately.

“After you. Hunting you.”

“Blue?”

She nodded and clung to him. 

Sighing, Simon rubbed her back and continued to hold her. 

~six day later~

Blearily opening his eyes, Simon grunted softly and sat up from his seat at the counter in his infirmary. He was currently drooling on River’s blood test results. Cursing, he cleaned his computer and then stretched with a groan. 

“That doesn’t look comfortable.” Wash grinned and then jerked his thumb. “We’ve landed on Bellami Space Port. Captain wants to talk to you about something.”

“Right.” Simon stood up and cracked his back. “I should never do that again.”

River appeared at his elbow. “Awake is the mongoose. Hunting a snake?”

“Nope. Going to talk to Bad Leader.” Wash snickered at their nickname for Mal. River grinned. 

“Engines and Guns go better together.” She looked up. Simon looked up also and stopped in his tracks. 

“Wow. Guess she got tired of waiting.”

“Huh?” Wash glanced up and also froze. “Are you rutting kidding me?! You two are part of the family! You’re siblings! This is incest!” River flinched.

Kaylee flushed bright red and jumped away from the kiss she was sharing with Jayne. Simon smirked at her and nodded. She relaxed. He wasn’t angry or hurt. In fact, he was relieved. 

Jayne was barking back to Wash about it bein none of his ruttin business. Wash wasn’t taking kindly to that.

This ruckus caused everyone else to make an appearance. Simon noticed Mal and Inara coming out of Inara’s shuttle. Mal’s suspenders were off, and the man was in the process of tucking his shirt back in. Simon smirked into his fist before looking up and nodding to the man. 

“What’s goin on now?”

“Jayne’s molesting Kaylee’s lips!” Wash sounded all kinds of revolted. 

“About damn time is what I say.” Zoe smirked at a gaping Jayne. 

Mal snorted. “Can’t tell me that this took you by surprise, Wash. When the doc first came aboard and tickled Kaylee’s fancy, Jayne was immediately growling and making crude jokes. He was jealous.”

“Just like you were always jealous of Inara’s clients.” Simon coughed into his fist.

Shooting him a look, Mal crossed his arms. “I’m getting better.”

“Oh, of course.” Simon smirked at him and then cleared his throat. “Wash says you wanted to see me.”

“Right. Yeah. Inara’s got a client that doesn’t have any references, but is high standing. She doesn’t see a problem, but I want him vetted, yanno?”

Simon closed his eyes and then nodded. “Visual and computer?”

“Sure thing. Can you do that?”

“Of course.”

“Shiny. Get goin then. I’ll sort this.” Mal stopped him and then gestured to Jayne, who had his arm wrapped around Kaylee’s waist. “This won’t be a problem?”

“Not at all. Kaylee and I never started anything. It faded from disuse.” Simon nodded to the man and then went off with a slightly exasperated but secretly touched Inara. They climbed into her shuttle, and Simon looked over the man’s name. He quickly pulled up his data and bank statements and medical records. Inara balked for a moment and then sat down with a huff. “Okay…this is what he said in the interview application. And this is what he really is.” Simon snorted. “Gotta hand it to Mal. His gut rarely lies, though don’t tell him I said that.”

“What do you mean?”

“The medical records are faked. Look. That watermark insignia is missing the date for when he needs to get it updated. By order of Alliance law, all medical records need to be updated for officers within the Alliance. He is a commanding officer, and yet…why is he lying on his records?”

“I don’t understand.” Inara frowned in true confusion. “Why would he be?”

Simon dug a little deeper and then sighed. “Facial recognition says that there is another face like his from Sigma Nine, wanted for pro-Independence espionage. I would steer clear of him. It’ll only take a little bit for the officers in the Alliance to figure it out for themselves. We shouldn’t get involved.”

“Get involved in what?”

Simon closed his eyes and cursed silently. He stood up and left Inara to deal with it. Mal would obviously want to help anyone giving the Alliance a bad day. That’s one of the reasons Simon suspected that Mal gave him and River help.

In the end, it was decided that Inara would not accept the man, so she wouldn’t get involved, but Simon, Zoe, and Mal would go and visit the guy on their own. Simon had to because he was the only one who could read people and let Mal and Zoe know if this guy really was on the side of the Independents and still was. 

They made it to his place in good time. Simon exhaled into his hands. It was freezing on this planet. Truly freezing. The readings were always below zero even during what passed for summer on this place. “So, are you going to accept Inara’s offer after all?”

“How do you know anything about that?” Mal gave him a look. Simon snorted. 

“As I am the only person on the ship with good manners and breeding, she and I have a stronger bond than with you…savages. She was venting to me this morning about the mixed signals. You involve her in a plan and then take away the fence part that she can clearly help out on. Also, why haven’t you hit up that fat man who gave us the cattle? He’s a collector.”

Mal faltered and then laughed out loud. “Right! That’s the one! I’ll have Inara contact him since she wants in on this, but only that. Then I’ll do the meeting in person.” Mal seemed much happier now that he had a plan of action.

They approached the door and knocked and waited. 

When no one answered, Simon glanced around and then opened the panel and hooked up his computer to it to slice into the security cameras inside. “We need to go. Now.” He disengaged and pulled Zoe and Mal down the sidewalk but was forced to freeze when the feds came. “This is a nightmare.”

“Why are they here?” Mal’s voice was steady.

“The guy’s murdered in his living room. I hacked through his security cameras and saw it.”

“Shit.” Zoe raised her hands and listened as Mal tried to play innocent and talk their way out. Simon knew that the jig was up when one of the men gave him a double take.

“I’ve been made.”

Mal’s body coiled tighter, and he drew his gun. Zoe followed his lead. They bolted and ran through the streets and alleys. Zoe frowned. “They stopped chasing us. Why?” She looked around and then felt colder than the weather. “Captain.”

“What?”

“The doc ain’t with us.”

“Dammit!” He motioned for her to follow him. They saw Simon struggling and then finally get stunned and hauled into the car and sped off to the station. “Come on.”

“Sir?”

“We need to get him before those blue hands come to collect him. I’d rather not have my brains explode in my skull.” She nodded and then followed him to the station. 

They entered the building and sat down in the waiting room. Mal looked at Zoe. “Contact Wash and let him know we need someone listening to chatter.”

Zoe nodded and called her husband. Kaylee jumped on that. Meanwhile, Mal was having Jayne come in with Book, and Inara watching River- who somehow figured it out immediately that her brother was being held by the feds. 

Wash’s voice crackled over Zoe’s comm.  _ “Er, you guys either need to make a last ditch effort to get him out right now, or run for it. Blues Clues are landing. ETA about three minutes.” _

Mal cursed and then stood up quickly and made his way to the fire alarm. Noise and chaos. Perfect combination. He hit it. Everyone was running everywhere while he ran into the holding cell. Simon had a split lip and was drugged, but other than that, Mal couldn’t see any damage. He was breathing and didn’t look blue, so that was a win according to Mal’s books. Hoisting him up onto his shoulder, Mal came out and saw Zoe was shouting for all the civilians to leave in the exit that the Blue Man group wanted to come in through. He went out the other way. A prickle on the back of his neck let him know that the two men had seen him carrying Simon out. Turning around, he stared on in shock as Zoe was forced to stay still.

“You have what we want, and we have what you want, Captain.”

Mal stared at Zoe and then at the two men. One of them had the device. “We could kill everyone here, including the civilians outside. You can choose to hand him over, spare all their lives, and save one of your own, or…we’ll kill you all.”

“Including your boy-toy doctor?” Mal chuckled. “Yeah. I can’t see that happenin.”

“True, but you would never kill him. We hold no such sentiment for Mrs Washburne.” Zoe’s eyes narrowed at them knowing her name. 

Swallowing, Mal didn’t let on that he felt Simon stirring. He decided to play for time. “Look, why don’t you set that down nice and easy, and we do this in a more civilized manner? Yeah?”

“Captain Reynolds, my partner and I hold no attachment to the Alliance. It is simply a business connect and contract. We couldn’t care less about the Independence and what you would called civilized. We only have a job to do. Much like you, we do our job, and we get paid.” He smiled softly at Mal. “You are currently standing in our way of getting paid.”

“So you’re bounty hunters?”

“Nothing so crude. We are hired on because of our…skillset of hunting down others who are…just as skilled.” He smiled at him. “We know all about you, Captain, and your crew. Should you continue with this ill-advised attempt at protecting the Tam siblings, then we will be forced to…take care of things in a far more permanent manner.”

The second man spoke up. “You should consider the siblings as bad investments, Captain. No one would fault you for you choosing Mrs Washburne over a boy who’s practically a stranger, who has brought nothing but misfortune on your ship since day one. You give him and his sister up, we will stop hunting you.”

Mal wetted his lips and chuckled. “Yeah, well, while you two do make a compelling argument, I gotta admit havin a tiny problem with it. Dr Tam is part of my crew, and I live by a motto.” Mal’s smile dropped. “I leave no one behind.”

Simon acted then, pulling Mal’s gun from his pocket and rolling off his shoulder. He shot both men, the first man holding the device was shot in the hand, causing him to drop it. The second man was holding Zoe and got shot in the chest, dead center. 


	12. Chapter 12

Simon tilted his head and shook his head. “Drugs still messing with me. Did I get them?”

Mal grabbed Zoe and pulled her over and took his gun from Simon. “Yeah. You got them. Nice work.”

Simon grunted. “Good on me.” He studied the man clutching his bleeding hand. “Just give up already.”

Pulling off his blue glove, the man laughed softly. “Why would we do that when we’ve already won?”

The man with the chest wound stirred and then stood up again. Their wounds started healing. Simon cursed. “Heightened regenerative abilities. I was an idiot to think that they didn’t experiment on other people before River!”

“It was foolish, but understandable. No one ever thinks about the possibility that others are just as inhuman as they are.” He pocketed his bloody glove and pulled on a new one before tilting his head. “Now, I believe it’s our move.”

“Wrong again.” Simon grabbed Mal’s gun again and shot the central air pipe. The hot steam immediately filled the room. He grabbed Zoe and Mal and then shoved them to the back of the station where the police cars were. After hotwiring it, he looked up and then tossed Mal his gun. 

“Take care of my sister.”

Mal grabbed his wrist and pulled on him. “What are you rutting thinking?!”

“I’m thinking that your crew needs you, and I’m thinking that you will make it only if I take another car and create a distraction. I also think that I need to get back in there and make sure that they don’t landlock the Serenity.” Simon smiled at them tiredly. “You’re not leaving me. I’m choosing to stay. My choice. Go.” He rushed back inside the building. Zoe jerked the steering wheel angrily and started flying in the direction of the ship. 

When they got there, Wash was in the motions of getting her up in the air. The locking suddenly lifted. River was out (Jayne had been forced to knock her out to get her under control). Kaylee was crying. 

Mal grabbed her arm. “We’re getting him back, Kaylee. We are getting him back.”

She nodded and hurried to the engine room.

~at that moment~

Simon lifted his hands slowly and looked around the room. “So…I’m guessing that you’re going to cut open my brain now?”

The man in charge chuckled. “Not at all. We are, however, going to dope you. Sorry.”

“Wha-ah!” Simon pulled the dart from his arm and leaned against the counter. “You’re causing my body to overdose. The other…drugs still in…system.” He slumped to the ground. 

“That’s worrisome. Get him out of here.”

When Simon woke up, he was resting on a metal framed bed. Exhaling, he sat up slowly and looked around the room. Narrowing his eyes, he studied his surroundings more closely. 

The door slid open and in walked three men. Two of whom were wearing blue gloves. Simon raised an eyebrow. “I’m still lucid. What do you want from me that you can’t get after cutting into my brain?” He laughed softly as he answered his own question. “Oh that’s right. My brain.” He sent the lead man a look. “You need me to do something medicinally oriented that no one else has a specialty in.”

“That is correct.” The man in charge chuckled. “I find it fascinating how your mind works.”

“Don’t be too impressed. River can do the same thing, not that you would know that, since you were so busy stripping her amygdala and turning her into your pet assassin.”

“I am Dr Rael. I want you to help me perfect our surgeries and processes.”

“Not interested.”

“Don’t be too quick in your decisions, Dr Tam. After all, we are not completely lost.” Blue One spoke up. Simon frowned at him. “We were very close with creating a perfect psychic before you stole your sister from us. We can do the same operations to you. It will not be as efficient as what you could undoubtedly come up with, but the end product will be the same. We can do that to you, or…you can do it to yourself.”

Simon stared at them with incredulity. “You’re actually a mad scientist. I am talking to a real live mad scientist!”

Blue Two- the skinnier guy- exhaled and then activated a screen. “If that does not convince, then we have other incentives for you to do your job.”

Simon stared at the live feed of his mother attending a tea party. On another screen, he saw his father speaking to a group of men and women in a board meeting. “Is this what you call  _ incentive _ now? Putting invisible guns to the heads of the people who raised me?” Simon turned and stared at them with wide eyes. 

Dr Rael chuckled and shrugged. “It gets the job done.”

“Not really.” Simon turned his back on the screens. “I hate them. Killing them would work for me, actually. I’ve never loved my mother, and my father is an abomination to me now. They turned their backs on their own daughter simply because they couldn’t stretch their feeble minds to conceive the idea that their precious government was filled with evil, vicious bitches and bastards all out for power and glory and control.” Simon snorted and then laughed caustically. “Go ahead and kill them.” He looked each man in the eyes before smiling and leaning against the wall in what he knew was a blind spot.

However, Blue Two started chuckling. He looked at his companion and then turned back to Simon. “We aren’t going to kill them. We’re going to drop them off where Reavers can get them.”

Simon swallowed down his bile and straightened. They weren’t lying. Everything about their body posture suggested that they weren’t lying. A quick shot to the head was one thing, but Reavers…

“And when your friends and your sister are finally caught, we’ll hand the crew of the Serenity over to the Reavers as well.”

Simon closed his eyes and then opened them with a tired exhale. “What do you need me to do exactly?”

“Two things. We need you to perfect this serum, and also, we need you to streamline the Psychic Surgeries.”

Simon looked over the data files and then started reading them, ignoring the men at his back. “Will I be working alone?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” After a beat or two of silence, Simon spoke up again. “Why are you still here?”

Dr. Rael smiled thinly and then walked out. “These two will always be watching you.”

“I expected that.” Simon’s voice was faint and distracted as he poured over all their information. He first learned and figured out what they had done to his sister. Then he figured out what they had done to the Blue Hands. After that, he continued researching and learning and understanding. It took him the rest of the day to finish collecting and comprehending all the hundreds of data files and case histories and experiments they had done.

When he couldn’t find anything about the history of the serum they wanted him to perfect, Simon tapped on the glass and spoke up to Blue One. “What caused the serum experimentation to be discontinued until now?”

“There were adverse reactions, extreme reactions to the serum, causing insanity in some and catatonia in others.”

Simon straightened up and stared at the man before scowling. “It must say something that I’m not surprised by the level of barbarity you people practice anymore. You performed human experimentation without their consent most likely and possibly without their knowledge. Airborn? Water supply? How did you destroy these people’s lives?”

“Airborn. What’s it to you? Solve the problem now.”

Slamming the computer onto the counter, Simon snarled and continued to work. It took him three days to solve the serum, but he pretended to need more time, and he wrote nothing down of worth, keeping everything inside his head. As for the Psychic Surgeries, Simon ignored those completely and decided to go with something completely different. He didn’t want what was done to his sister done to him. He didn’t want to become a psychic. He knew that whatever he did or created would be turned around and tested on him. So…he had to be really sure how it was to be implemented and what it would enable him to do. Swallowing, Simon looked at the Blue Hands and then narrowed his eyes. Regeneration… He looked at the files on what they had done to River. Faster reflexes and keener senses…

_ Put them together and what have you got? _ Simon chuckled as he remembered an ancient child movie that River had loved. “Bippity boppity boo.” He smirked as he started working on the formula.

A very deep part of his brain was happy with the chance of being entertained and distracted with a truly fascinating the puzzle. The Human Brain and Body. It took him three more days before he solved the problem of human frailty. Straightening, Simon looked at the serum that was bubbling away in the beaker. Smiling, he prepared a syringe, only looking up at the people entering when he was done.

“Who’s the unlucky one to get tested on?” Simon already knew the answer.

Dr. Rael smiled and then took the syringe. “You.” 

Putting up a token fight, Simon watched as the needle was pressed against his skin. He watched as his skin gave way to the invasive object and the plunger pushed down. He felt the thick liquid enter his muscle. Closing his eyes, he tried to level out the oncoming agony by getting ahead of the game and shutting down his brain’s pain centers. Quickly, Simon slipped into a semi-comatose state deep in his mind. He bolstered his mental walls and barricaded himself inside as his very DNA mutated within him. Time was relative inside his mind, so Simon didn’t know how long his body suffered, but when the walls around his mind fortress and memory map stopped shaking, he slowly, cautiously, opened a door and peeked out. 

Opening his eyes, Simon took a deep breath and looked around. He was in his same lab/room, but this time he was alone. A machine was beeping in time with his heart. Sitting up, Simon snapped the restraints on his arms and legs and then stood up. His body recovered swiftly from the ordeal it suffered through. Smiling softly, Simon looked at the security camera. No doubt they were scrambling now that they had seen him break the iron restraints. Walking up to the lab, he quickly started concocting a chemical that was incredibly toxic to breathe in. Earth-that-was called it Mustard Gas. Except this version was… _ very _ potent.

Humming, Simon cracked his neck and then kicked the lab door. It dented on his first try. Grinning now, Simon kicked the door again and again and again until it fell in. He felt the stun rays of the Alliance guns, but other than give him pause, his body was completely unaffected. Running outside, Simon carried the liquid vial of highly concentrated mustard gas with him as he jumped twenty meters up, grabbing the vent directly above him. He punched it inward and quickly climbed into the vent, closing his eyes and pulling up in his mind’s eye what the building was like that he rescued River from. The Alliance was the sort of group that had all the layouts exactly the same. They were anal about things like order and control.

True enough, Simon popped his head out of the vents and found that he was in the central air conditioning and filtering unit. “And we all fall down…” Simon drained the liquid within the sprinklers and then poured the poison into the sprinkler system. Unlike the sprinklers on Earth-that-was, Alliance sprinklers sprayed out a fine mist with a chemical that leached oxygen in its immediate vicinity to form into water. The fire would be snuffed out immediately. 

Turning, Simon looked over and waited for the single person to enter. He had heard their heartbeat and footsteps about thirty meters away. It was Dr. Rael. 

“Do you think it’s really wise to come at me alone?”

“The Blue Hands want to grab you for themselves. But I know better. I will get executed if they had their way. I need to turn you in myself. Break you and bring you to heel.”

Simon rolled his eyes and then moved as fast as he could. It turned out to be far faster than even he had calculated. Ten times faster than a regular human being, five times faster than a person with extraordinary reflexes. 

Knocking the tranquilizer gun from the man’s hands, Simon grabbed Dr. Rael’s head with his two hands and pushed inward with all his strength. A sick crunch alerted him that he had crushed the man’s skull. Stepping back, Simon searched Rael’s pockets and smiled. “I knew you were a smoker.” Taking the lighter, he sparked the flame and put it near the fire sensor. 

Chuckling, Simon waited for the entire building to die. After about ten minutes, he stepped out of the room, breathing lightly and feeling his lungs constantly re-heal themselves. It didn’t take him at all long to set up a bomb in the center of the building. He fashioned a timer and then hurried down the hallways and corridors. Looking around, he exited the building and used a stolen passkey to get inside and pilot the ship that the Blue Hand Boys had come in. The compound exploded into a fireball as he directed the ship back into space. He ditched the ship on Persephone, changed into some clothes meant for Blue Two and snagged a child off the side of the street.

“Okay, these ten chips are yours if you go to Badger, that man across the square, and tell him to contact one of his freelance connections for a job. Anti-Alliance job.”

The boy’s eyes widened and then nodded quickly. He raced across the street and gave Simon’s message. Badger obviously tried to find Simon, but the doctor wasn’t a fool. He didn’t get seen. The boy hurried back into the crowded bar that Simon was hanging out in. There was no way Badger would know. “Ten’s yours, boyo. Good on you. Scoot now.”

The kid grinned and raced off.

Having no other alternative, Badger set up a meeting with Malcome Reynolds. When the Serenity landed on Persephone, Simon snuck on board while Mal and Zoe talked shop with Badger.

“He said that he’d have a contact for you at the Blue Parrot Bar. Didn’t seem to like me getting involved. Though, he has promised a ten percent cut.”

“And if this isn’t on the level?”

Badger chuckled and lifted his hands. “No skin off my nose. I don’t have anything signed, sealed, or shaken hands. He wants a bunch of smugglers who don’t like the Alliance. You can take the deal or not.”

“No deal.” Mal snorted and stepped back. “I generally like seein who I’m doin business with. I’m surprised with you, Badger.”

They quickly made an exit only to find Simon being greeted by all the crew. Simon grinned at Mal. “I had to find some way to get you onto Persephone without contacting you. The Alliance was probably watching all the signals and channels. I couldn’t risk anything, so I had Badger do it for me. I was the person interested in that bogus raid. I knew he’d contact you. I heard you guys had an interesting adventure at a bordello.” Simon raised an eyebrow at Book. “Good job using my medical textbooks to help deliver the baby.” River still hadn’t let go of him. Simon smiled at her and then kissed her temple comfortingly.

Book smiled faintly. “It was only because of your side notes in the margins that I truly understood the vocabulary. Inara and River helped out immensely.”

“I’m glad everything went well, but I am sorry that so many people had to die because of one man’s arrogance.” Simon turned and focused on Mal, who seemed to have caught up to the situation that he was back. Mal grinned.

“Welcome back. Wash! Get us out of here before they catch on!”

“Got it.” Wash hurried away. 


	13. Chapter 13

River curled up beside her brother and smoothed her hand over his left pec. She liked it when he was asleep. It was the only time she could touch him.  Someone was behind her. She twisted around and saw Book. He studied her intently, not bothering to hide his thoughts. She scowled darkly and stood up and moved away.  _ Don’t tell him, Preacher Man. _

“You shouldn’t do that to him, River.” His answer was soft in the stillness of the evening.

They were on their way to Osiris just to check on the family. Landing in one of the blackout zones of course.  River scowled at him warningly. “Little girl grew into a woman, and wished for womanly things. A lover. A lover’s hands. Not her fault that woman has a little girl body and a brother lover.”

“River-” 

Mal stomped up, jerking Simon awake. He took in his surroundings and then looked at Mal, who spoke up. “We’re landing now.”

Nodding and standing up, Simon looked at Mal. “Be ready to leave in a moment’s notice. I’ve used one of my father’s private landing codes. It should pop up in the system soon. We have about five hours.”

“This is stupid.” Jayne looked at them all intently. “You know that right?”

“We need to find out if the Alliance has touched them, told them anything.” Simon looked at River, who was dressed in commoner clothing, just like him. “We’ll be back within two hours.”

Mal nodded and then started pacing the cargo bay. Wash and Zoe were pacing the cockpit.

What they found…Simon swallowed and stared at their family home. With Inara’s makeup and dye job help, River and Simon were blond haired, blue eyed, and white skinned. They looked completely different with the help of contouring. Their bone structure was shifted enough to fool the facial recognition cameras.

“Nothing’s changed.” River looked around. Simon swallowed again and looked over at where his father was getting into a car with his mother. 

“Friday night out to the opera. They still do that.” He nodded to her and then broke into their old home without even a struggle. River was right at his side. 

Quietly, he put all the data he could find about River’s operations, his own mutations, every single bit of proof he could get his hands on, into his mother’s computer. Then, he scribbled a note and placed it on top of the computer.  _ ‘This is just to let you know that I was right all along. Remember, you are dead to us now, and don’t try to reach out or say anything. The government will kill you. I’d like to say that I would mourn if you two did die, but…I can honestly say that I lost my parents a long time ago. When they left my sister for dead in a government run science facility. Look at the files, you simple minded fools.” _

They slipped away quickly and got back to the ship and left. Mal breathed out slowly. “That is the first mission that hasn’t gone haywire.”

Simon snorted. “Cause you had nothing to do with it. I swear, Mal, you have a bad luck charm about you.” He shook his head and then walked quickly back to his bunk. River followed him. They had placed a camera in the study so they could hear and see everything that went in there. Also, Simon had been able to hack into the new security system, so they knew when and how anyone entered or left the estate.

Regan Tam came into her office exactly three hours later. She frowned at the note and then immediately went pale, calling for her husband quickly. Simon and River watched their faces as they read the files. Regan began crying while Gabriel Tam grew pale and nauseous. 

“It’s done.”

“They’re sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Simon stood up sharply and snarled. “They weren’t there, and they can’t be there anymore. Even if they know and accept the truth now, we don’t need them.”

River made sure her brother didn’t see her tears. Swallowing, she nodded. “The journey goes on and on and on, unknown, without aim.”

“We have an aim.” Simon looked at River. “We start digging deeper into that brain of yours and see what’s yours and what’s theirs.” She nodded slowly, staring at him. He smiled gently and wiped her tears away. “It will be alright, River. I know it will be.”

“New drugs.” 

Simon winked at her. “Your favorite. A chemical cocktail.” She pulled a face at him, prompting him to laugh. While Simon looked down, River looked over at Book and frowned. He was staring at her intently before turning and walking quickly away. She narrowed her eyes. The man was one of the few, besides Simon, who was getting better at keeping her out.

_ He needs to leave the ship. He needs to go before he tells Simon anything. _ She worried her lip and decided to plant the thought of going to a settlement and spreading his faith there. She liked the Preacher Man, but he was a danger to her and Simon. She couldn’t let that continue. Book needed to leave the ship, and her subliminal message would make sure that he did just that.

~six months later~

River grinned as Simon glowered at Mal. “She’s seventeen, Mal! I should be with her for her first mission! Come on!”

“This is an order. You stay with the ship and make sure it’s safe. You know that. It’s how we’ve rolled for the last few missions. I’m used to fighting with Zoe and Jayne. You protect Inara, Kaylee, and Wash.” Mal raised his hand slightly. “Not that Wash can’t protect himself, but whatever. We need a Reader with us, and we’ve got a Reader, so River is coming with.”

“I understand that, but I still think it’s a stupid thing to do. You need me to be on hand in case something triggers her or something goes south! I’m another fighting-”

“You are the best fighter and killer we’ve got.” Mal rested his hand on Simon’s arm. “And River knows how to take care of herself. Leave it. Those are my orders. If you continue arguin then I’m gonna get a might more irritated with you.” Mal smiled at him and then climbed onto the mule.

Simon took a breath and then stared at River. “Remember, protect and think and guard your mind. Don’t let anyone’s thoughts distract you. Focus on that wall.” River nodded. Simon continued. “If there’s trouble, then you shouldn’t hesitate to leave them for dead and run for your life. At the slightest problem, call out to my mind. I’ll be ready.”

She smiled at him as Zoe started up the mule and was driving away.

Kaylee smiled tensely. “They’ll be alright.”

“Is that what you think?” Simon exhaled and then rubbed his face tiredly. “How are things with Jayne?”

“I had my doubts when I first accepted him, but he’s…he’s faithful and sweet.” Kaylee chuckled. “And he matches me more than you would have.”

“I am sorry that-”

“It’s a good thing that it didn’t work out. You would have struggled with me on top of River.”

“True. When it comes to women, I tend to have a lot of foot in the mouth moments.” He smiled as Kaylee giggled.

“Yeah, I can see that.” She hummed and then turned and grinned at Inara. “Glad to see that you and the captin are getting along.” 

Flushing lightly, Inara turned away. “Oh please, you know well enough that Mal and I are happy. We’ve been together for over a year now.”

“Uh huh, but I still haven’t gotten any dirty tidbits from you.” Kaylee winked at the woman.

Simon cleared his throat. “For a person who’s well-adjusted to the idea and prospect of sex and sexual activities, you certainly blush a lot when talking about your love life with the Captain.”

“What he said, yeah!” Kaylee smirked.

Huffing out an amused breath, Inara waved them both down. “Alright! Mal and I don’t often have sex, actually. He has a lower libido and…I’m sometimes not up for it since I do have relations more often.”

Kaylee frowned and tilted her head. “So what do you do?”

“We talk, lay in bed naked, get to know each other, give each other massages. That sort of thing.” Inara gave them both sharp looks. “But don’t tell Mal that I told you. He’s very private.”

“Course not!” Kaylee grinned and then closed up the ship’s ramp. Simon hesitantly went to the infirmary. He had just about finalized the medicine that should help with River’s hallucinations. The other trauma, the things that caused her to be unable to communicate lucidly, that he couldn’t help. There was a psychological block that kept forcing her mind back to a childlike ignorance, regressing away from whatever her brain knew that it didn’t want to acknowledge. Simon knew that the moment she faced her fears, she would be better off for it. However, it was challenging to get River to cooperate.

On anything.

And then…the highlight of Simon’s day was watching his sister fly in with Reavers behind her. In hindsight, he shouldn’t have punched the captain hard enough to let him go flying, but he was pissed.

“NEXT TIME YOU TAKE MY SISTER ON A MISSION TAKE ME WITH YOU, DAMMIT!” Simon pulled River up the stairs. “Jayne, come to the infirmary. Now.”

Mal was grumbling about insubordination and the like, but Simon didn’t care. River was underage and vulnerable. Both were very good reasons for her primary care physician to stay at her side at all times. It was only logical.

Understandably, Mal was pissed to have to go to Simon for his broken jaw. Simon winced visibly at the damage. “I apologize. I lost control.”

“Inara told me that it was wrong to involve River without her guardian, legally and morally wrong. I’m…sorry too.”

Simon nodded and then swallowed before injecting a medicine in to stimulate bone regrowth. “It’ll sting like fire ants, but that will only last for an hour. Your jaw will be fine after that.”

“What did you shoot me with?”

“A little something I made on my own. Bone-regrowth. It’s similar to the Augmentation Serum, but it’s localized and a one shot only thing. You won’t have regenerative bones.”

“Huh. Maybe we should all become Augments.” Mal stood up. “Might be easier on us all.”

“True, but that would be your entire body changing. Everything about you would shift.” Simon swallowed and turned away. “It’s not something to be taken lightly. Issues with identity might come up. I can provide a serum for all of you, there are no machines needed, but you should discuss it with the crew.”

“Of course.” Mal nodded and then walked out. 

In the end, everyone was agreed, except Kaylee. She didn’t fight much and wasn’t much interested in the fighting. Inara also didn’t relish the idea. Jayne and Zeo didn’t want it. He didn’t like foreign shit being put into his body. And she thought it wasn’t natural. (“No offense, doc.”)

However, Wash and Mal decided that they’d go for it. 

When they finally got through the pain of the transformation, Wash and Mal stared at each other. They had physically shifted but only they and their partners would notice that. 

“Remember, your bodies are physically perfect. Augment muscles, perfectly sculpted bodies. Perfect doesn’t mean average. Perfect is better than average. You’ll stand out more. Wash, you might be taller slightly. Mal, your scars will be gone. Both of you will be stronger, faster,  _ better _ . Your brains will catch onto things faster. Academics, math problems that stumped you, once you know the way to solve them, will come to you easier. Strategy, combat, anything, and everything. You won’t be at the level of River or myself, but you will be heads and shoulders above the rest of humanity. You are better at  _ everything _ . Remember that. You are no longer who you were. Things will come easier, muscle memory will be everything now. You can watch a combat form and be able to do it a second later identically to what you saw. Do you understand? You are perfect humans. No more extra body fat. A higher metabolism, and keener senses. If this gets out, then the Alliance will be hunting you to harvest your  _ constantly regrowing organs _ .” 

They were somber and nodding in understanding. Wash exhaled slowly and then stood up from his bed and broke the metal handle off the drawer. “Okay. Did not mean to do that.”

“Zoe, work with him on helping him gauge himself so he won’t smash up the controls in the ship.” Mal cleared his throat and sat up but didn’t touch anything. Inara moved to grab his hand, but he jerked away. “I don’t want to break your hand.”

“Yeah, that’s a question.” Wash turned and looked at Simon. “How strong are we now?”

“I crushed a man’s skull with little to no effort, and you’re just as strong as me. So…” Simon shrugged and then turned back to help Mal adjust. Inara was with him every step of the way.

Wash blinked. “Oh.” He turned and looked at Zoe. “He crushed a man’s skull and we’re only now just hearing about it.” She snorted. Wash turned back to Simon. “Did you also perhaps play tiddlywinks with his knuckle bones?”

“Nope, but I did poison an entire base and walk through the same gas without dying.” Simon nodded to Mal. “Take my hand. Squeeze as hard as you can.” They all heard the bones crack and crunch. Mal jerked away with a curse in Mandarin. Simon lifted his hand and showed them his healing. “That was as hard as you can squeeze. Now, adjust accordingly.” He held out his hand again.

After Mal learned his new limits, Simon did the same practice to Wash. When they were used to it, they all tested their reflexes and then went to the cargo bay to test their strength endurance. Simon went along with them to do his own testing. By the time they were fully comfortable in their new skin, they had arrived at their destination of Beaumonde. Simon exhaled slowly and then stepped out with River and Kaylee and Jayne. 

“When you punched the captain, I thought he’d boot you off the ship.” Kaylee laughed nervously. “I’m glad he didn’t know.”

“I’m not.” Jayne ignored Kaylee’s look of shock and anger. He shrugged at Simon. “You two are bad luck. Gonna get us all killed someday soon.” 

His words nearly came true. Simon was forced to use the safe words to shut River down. Of course, that put him in slightly badly with Mal. Just slightly.

Simon exhaled forcibly. “I told you all that River was being brainwashed-”

“No, you said that she was heavily traumatized and operated on. You didn’t say nothing about her being turned into a rutting murder bot!”

“I did!” Simon cleared his throat. “Or rather,  _ Kaylee _ did. Have you all forgotten that conversation?”

“I have not.” Mal spoke up before Jayne could again. “I also didn’t forget you tellin us that she would never kill us, but I have a strong suspicion that she wouldn’t have batted an eye to put a bullet in my brain before you knocked her out!”

Simon swallowed. “I may have underestimated the strength of the conditioning that they put her through, but-”

“How did they trigger her?” Zoe frowned at them all. Inara stepped forward.

“And can they do it again?”

“Until I find a way to counter the programming-”

“But how did they do it?” Zoe wasn’t backing down. Wash breathed out slowly. 

“And are there any messages going out about her little stunt?” He looked at Mal. “You know we should talk to Mr. Universe.”

Mal slumped slightly and then nodded. “Fine.”

Frankly, Simon was glad that they decided to do that, because it turned out to be very informative. Miranda…

He shook his head tiredly and opened his computer and looked at his finalized serum on what the Alliance called the Pax. He had finished it, but… Pressing his lips together, he deleted everything to do with it. It wasn’t going to see the light of day. It was never going to be found by anyone. He wiped all traces of it and wished he could do the same thing for his own brain. 


	14. Chapter 14

River curled up beside her brother and smoothed her hand over his left pec. She liked it when he was asleep. It was the only time she could touch him. 

Someone was behind her. She twisted around and saw Book. He studied her intently, not bothering to hide his thoughts. She scowled darkly and stood up and moved away.  _ Don’t tell him, Preacher Man. _

“You shouldn’t do that to him, River.” His answer was soft in the stillness of the evening.

They were on their way to Osiris just to check on the family. Landing in one of the blackout zones of course.  River scowled at him warningly. “Little girl grew into a woman, and wished for womanly things. A lover. A lover’s hands. Not her fault that woman has a little girl body and a brother lover.”

“River-” 

Mal stomped up, jerking Simon awake. He took in his surroundings and then looked at Mal, who spoke up. “We’re landing now.”

Nodding and standing up, Simon looked at Mal. “Be ready to leave in a moment’s notice. I’ve used one of my father’s private landing codes. It should pop up in the system soon. We have about five hours.”

“This is stupid.” Jayne looked at them all intently. “You know that right?”

“We need to find out if the Alliance has touched them, told them anything.” Simon looked at River, who was dressed in commoner clothing, just like him. “We’ll be back within two hours.”

Mal nodded and then started pacing the cargo bay. Wash and Zoe were pacing the cockpit.

What they found…Simon swallowed and stared at their family home. With Inara’s makeup and dye job help, River and Simon were blond haired, blue eyed, and white skinned. They looked completely different with the help of contouring. Their bone structure was shifted enough to fool the facial recognition cameras.

“Nothing’s changed.” River looked around. Simon swallowed again and looked over at where his father was getting into a car with his mother. 

“Friday night out to the opera. They still do that.” He nodded to her and then broke into their old home without even a struggle. River was right at his side. 

Quietly, he put all the data he could find about River’s operations, his own mutations, every single bit of proof he could get his hands on, into his mother’s computer. Then, he scribbled a note and placed it on top of the computer.  _ ‘This is just to let you know that I was right all along. Remember, you are dead to us now, and don’t try to reach out or say anything. The government will kill you. I’d like to say that I would mourn if you two did die, but…I can honestly say that I lost my parents a long time ago. When they left my sister for dead in a government run science facility. Look at the files, you simple minded fools.” _

They slipped away quickly and got back to the ship and left. Mal breathed out slowly. “That is the first mission that hasn’t gone haywire.”

Simon snorted. “Cause you had nothing to do with it. I swear, Mal, you have a bad luck charm about you.” He shook his head and then walked quickly back to his bunk. River followed him. They had placed a camera in the study so they could hear and see everything that went in there. Also, Simon had been able to hack into the new security system, so they knew when and how anyone entered or left the estate.

Regan Tam came into her office exactly three hours later. She frowned at the note and then immediately went pale, calling for her husband quickly. Simon and River watched their faces as they read the files. Regan began crying while Gabriel Tam grew pale and nauseous. 

“It’s done.”

“They’re sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Simon stood up sharply and snarled. “They weren’t there, and they can’t be there anymore. Even if they know and accept the truth now, we don’t need them.”

River made sure her brother didn’t see her tears. Swallowing, she nodded. “The journey goes on and on and on, unknown, without aim.”

“We have an aim.” Simon looked at River. “We start digging deeper into that brain of yours and see what’s yours and what’s theirs.” She nodded slowly, staring at him. He smiled gently and wiped her tears away. “It will be alright, River. I know it will be.”

“New drugs.” 

Simon winked at her. “Your favorite. A chemical cocktail.” She pulled a face at him, prompting him to laugh. While Simon looked down, River looked over at Book and frowned. He was staring at her intently before turning and walking quickly away. She narrowed her eyes. The man was one of the few, besides Simon, who was getting better at keeping her out.

_ He needs to leave the ship. He needs to go before he tells Simon anything. _ She worried her lip and decided to plant the thought of going to a settlement and spreading his faith there. She liked the Preacher Man, but he was a danger to her and Simon. She couldn’t let that continue. Book needed to leave the ship, and her subliminal message would make sure that he did just that.

~six months later~

River grinned as Simon glowered at Mal. “She’s seventeen, Mal! I should be with her for her first mission! Come on!”

“This is an order. You stay with the ship and make sure it’s safe. You know that. It’s how we’ve rolled for the last few missions. I’m used to fighting with Zoe and Jayne. You protect Inara, Kaylee, and Wash.” Mal raised his hand slightly. “Not that Wash can’t protect himself, but whatever. We need a Reader with us, and we’ve got a Reader, so River is coming with.”

“I understand that, but I still think it’s a stupid thing to do. You need me to be on hand in case something triggers her or something goes south! I’m another fighting-”

“You are the best fighter and killer we’ve got.” Mal rested his hand on Simon’s arm. “And River knows how to take care of herself. Leave it. Those are my orders. If you continue arguin then I’m gonna get a might more irritated with you.” Mal smiled at him and then climbed onto the mule.

Simon took a breath and then stared at River. “Remember, protect and think and guard your mind. Don’t let anyone’s thoughts distract you. Focus on that wall.” River nodded. Simon continued. “If there’s trouble, then you shouldn’t hesitate to leave them for dead and run for your life. At the slightest problem, call out to my mind. I’ll be ready.”

She smiled at him as Zoe started up the mule and was driving away.

Kaylee smiled tensely. “They’ll be alright.”

“Is that what you think?” Simon exhaled and then rubbed his face tiredly. “How are things with Jayne?”

“I had my doubts when I first accepted him, but he’s…he’s faithful and sweet.” Kaylee chuckled. “And he matches me more than you would have.”

“I am sorry that-”

“It’s a good thing that it didn’t work out. You would have struggled with me on top of River.”

“True. When it comes to women, I tend to have a lot of foot in the mouth moments.” He smiled as Kaylee giggled.

“Yeah, I can see that.” She hummed and then turned and grinned at Inara. “Glad to see that you and the captin are getting along.” 

Flushing lightly, Inara turned away. “Oh please, you know well enough that Mal and I are happy. We’ve been together for over a year now.”

“Uh huh, but I still haven’t gotten any dirty tidbits from you.” Kaylee winked at the woman.

Simon cleared his throat. “For a person who’s well-adjusted to the idea and prospect of sex and sexual activities, you certainly blush a lot when talking about your love life with the Captain.”

“What he said, yeah!” Kaylee smirked.

Huffing out an amused breath, Inara waved them both down. “Alright! Mal and I don’t often have sex, actually. He has a lower libido and…I’m sometimes not up for it since I do have relations more often.”

Kaylee frowned and tilted her head. “So what do you do?”

“We talk, lay in bed naked, get to know each other, give each other massages. That sort of thing.” Inara gave them both sharp looks. “But don’t tell Mal that I told you. He’s very private.”

“Course not!” Kaylee grinned and then closed up the ship’s ramp. Simon hesitantly went to the infirmary. He had just about finalized the medicine that should help with River’s hallucinations. The other trauma, the things that caused her to be unable to communicate lucidly, that he couldn’t help. There was a psychological block that kept forcing her mind back to a childlike ignorance, regressing away from whatever her brain knew that it didn’t want to acknowledge. Simon knew that the moment she faced her fears, she would be better off for it. However, it was challenging to get River to cooperate.

On anything.

And then…the highlight of Simon’s day was watching his sister fly in with Reavers behind her. In hindsight, he shouldn’t have punched the captain hard enough to let him go flying, but he was pissed.

“NEXT TIME YOU TAKE MY SISTER ON A MISSION TAKE ME WITH YOU, DAMMIT!” Simon pulled River up the stairs. “Jayne, come to the infirmary. Now.”

Mal was grumbling about insubordination and the like, but Simon didn’t care. River was underage and vulnerable. Both were very good reasons for her primary care physician to stay at her side at all times. It was only logical.

Understandably, Mal was pissed to have to go to Simon for his broken jaw. Simon winced visibly at the damage. “I apologize. I lost control.”

“Inara told me that it was wrong to involve River without her guardian, legally and morally wrong. I’m…sorry too.”

Simon nodded and then swallowed before injecting a medicine in to stimulate bone regrowth. “It’ll sting like fire ants, but that will only last for an hour. Your jaw will be fine after that.”

“What did you shoot me with?”

“A little something I made on my own. Bone-regrowth. It’s similar to the Augmentation Serum, but it’s localized and a one shot only thing. You won’t have regenerative bones.”

“Huh. Maybe we should all become Augments.” Mal stood up. “Might be easier on us all.”

“True, but that would be your entire body changing. Everything about you would shift.” Simon swallowed and turned away. “It’s not something to be taken lightly. Issues with identity might come up. I can provide a serum for all of you, there are no machines needed, but you should discuss it with the crew.”

“Of course.” Mal nodded and then walked out. 

In the end, everyone was agreed, except Kaylee. She didn’t fight much and wasn’t much interested in the fighting. Inara also didn’t relish the idea. Jayne and Zeo didn’t want it. He didn’t like foreign shit being put into his body. And she thought it wasn’t natural. (“No offence, doc.”)

However, Wash and Mal decided that they’d go for it. 

When they finally got through the pain of the transformation, Wash and Mal stared at each other. They had physically shifted but only they and their partners would notice that. 

“Remember, your bodies are physically perfect. Augment muscles, perfectly sculpted bodies. Perfect doesn’t mean average. Perfect is better than average. You’ll stand out more. Wash, you might be taller slightly. Mal, your scars will be gone. Both of you will be stronger, faster,  _ better _ . Your brains will catch onto things faster. Academics, math problems that stumped you, once you know the way to solve them, will come to you easier. Strategy, combat, anything and everything. You won’t be at the level of River or myself, but you will be heads and shoulders above the rest of humanity. You are better at  _ everything _ . Remember that. You are no longer who you were. Things will come easier, muscle memory will be everything now. You can watch a combat form and be able to do it a second later identically to what you saw. Do you understand? You are perfect humans. No more extra body fat. Higher metabolism, and keener senses. If this gets out, then the Alliance will be hunting you to harvest your  _ constantly regrowing organs _ .” 

They were somber and nodding in understanding. Wash exhaled slowly and then stood up from his bed and broke the metal handle off the drawer. “Okay. Did not mean to do that.”

“Zoe, work with him on helping him gauge himself so he won’t smash up the controls in the ship.” Mal cleared his throat and sat up but didn’t touch anything. Inara moved to grab his hand, but he jerked away. “I don’t want to break your hand.”

“Yeah, that’s a question.” Wash turned and looked at Simon. “How strong are we now?”

“I crushed a man’s skull with little to no effort, and you’re just as strong as me. So…” Simon shrugged and then turned back to help Mal adjust. Inara was with him every step of the way.

Wash blinked. “Oh.” He turned and looked at Zoe. “He crushed a man’s skull and we’re only now just hearing about it.” She snorted. Wash turned back to Simon. “Did you also perhaps play tiddlywinks with his knuckle bones?”

“Nope, but I did poison an entire base and walk through the same gas without dying.” Simon nodded to Mal. “Take my hand. Squeeze as hard as you can.” They all heard the bones crack and crunch. Mal jerked away with a curse in Mandarin. Simon lifted his hand and showed them his healing. “That was as hard as you can squeeze. Now, adjust accordingly.” He held out his hand again.

After Mal learned his new limits, Simon did the same practice to Wash. When they were used to it, they all tested their reflexes and then went to the cargo bay to test their strength endurance. Simon went along with them to do his own testing. By the time they were fully comfortable in their new skin, they had arrived at their destination of Beaumonde. Simon exhaled slowly and then stepped out with River and Kaylee and Jayne. 

“When you punched the captain, I thought he’d boot you off the ship.” Kaylee laughed nervously. “I’m glad he didn’t know.”

“I’m not.” Jayne ignored Kaylee’s look of shock and anger. He shrugged at Simon. “You two are bad luck. Gonna get us all killed someday soon.” 

His words nearly came true. Simon was forced to use the safe words to shut River down. Of course that put him in slightly badly with Mal. Just slightly.

Simon exhaled forcibly. “I told you all that River was being brainwashed-”

“No, you said that she was heavily traumatized and operated on. You didn’t say nothing about her being turned into a rutting murder bot!”

“I did!” Simon cleared his throat. “Or rather,  _ Kaylee _ did. Have you all forgotten that conversation?”

“I have not.” Mal spoke up before Jayne could again. “I also didn’t forget you tellin us that she would never kill us, but I have a strong suspicion that she wouldn’t have batted an eye to put a bullet in my brain before you knocked her out!”

Simon swallowed. “I may have underestimated the strength of the conditioning that they put her through, but-”

“How did they trigger her?” Zoe frowned at them all. Inara stepped forward.

“And can they do it again?”

“Until I find a way to counter the programming-”

“But how did they do it?” Zoe wasn’t backing down. Wash breathed out slowly. 

“And are there any messages going out about her little stunt?” He looked at Mal. “You know we should talk to Mr. Universe.”

Mal slumped slightly and then nodded. “Fine.”

Frankly, Simon was glad that they decided to do that, because it turned out to be very informative. Miranda…

He shook his head tiredly and opened his computer and looked at his finalized serum on what the Alliance called the Pax. He had finished it, but… Pressing his lips together, he deleted everything to do with it. It wasn’t going to see the light of day. It was never going to be found by anyone. He wiped all traces of it and wished he could do the same thing for his own brain. 


	15. Chapter 15

Cursing softly, he set his computer down and went to see River. Mal had given him the go-ahead. 

“They’re afraid of me.”

“Well, they have reason to be, but don’t worry.” Simon started cleaning her up. “I firmly believe everything is going to be okay.”

“Do you?”

“Yes, because we now have a hint to that psychological block of yours. The thing that keeps pushing you to regress back to a childish mentality. Miranda. Something about that, something you picked up in the minds of one of those scientists…River, I might be able to find out what that is…unless…”

She looked at him. “I find out for you.”

“Exactly.” 

Looking down, River mumbled things about old men drowning in blood that never touched them. Simon pulled her into a tight hug when she started crying.

“We’ve talked about this, River.”

“Talk again. Say the words on repeat until you suffocate on them…”

Simon snorted. “We realized that this psychological block pushes your mentality to that of a dissociated five-year-old child. Whatever you picked up from those men and women’s minds was so horrible, so disgusting that your mind is trying to emphasize your innocence. Because of this, you can’t identify what’s wrong with you, can’t talk about your pain. On top of this-”

“My mental trauma is making it difficult to patch a sentence together, to link words together that mean something. This in turn makes it almost impossible to find the real reason and key to my malady.” She was quoting him. “Talk big words.”

Simon snorted and then started bandaging her cuts. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He kissed her temple and then exhaled slowly. “Try and think. What is Miranda? Who?”

“What.” She swallowed. “A what.”

“Okay. That means a location. So the next question is, where?”

“I don’t know.”

He nodded. “Don’t push. Try to rest. I’ll talk to the others about this.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too, River.” He smiled sadly and then hurried away.

They holed up where Book was staying, but River stayed close to Simon so Book couldn’t have a chance to tell him about what he had seen all those months ago. Book knew what she was doing. He stared at her before allowing himself to be pulled aside by Mal. River closed her eyes and tilted her mental ears over to them. 

“Talking about the serum. Bad Captain is talking to Preacher Man about the perfection potion.”

“Right. I assumed he would.” Simon cleared his throat and then continued to look around the place. “Let’s get back inside the ship.”

Even less chance of Simon and Book talking. River nodded. “Sleep.”

“Okay.” Simon hurried back inside, nodding to Zoe in silent confirmation of where he was taking his sister. Her eyes followed them up the ramp and into the cargo bay.

River curled up beside her brother and waited until he was asleep. She couldn’t drug him anymore, but at this moment, he was dead asleep, too exhausted to move. She slowly, gingerly, undressed him, coaxing his mind to remain quiet and deep in REM. She couldn’t control his mind. She wasn’t strong enough, but she could influence him. 

Sliding her hands along his genitals, River crouched between his legs and tasted him. Her brother was as tidy and clean inside his pants as he was everywhere else on his person. She smiled softly at that before focusing erecting his penis. 

Then, she slowly slid him inside her mouth, gradually increasing the amount until the head of his penis was against her throat. She felt warmth gush between her own legs as she realized that she was holding her Simon’s most private parts. Closing her eyes, she started what she had seen Kaylee do with Jayne (not actually see but see in the girl’s mind). It didn’t take long for her to bring her brother to orgasm. She swallowed so no mess would happen. Then, she thought about his taste. It was strangely…sweet with a tang. She licked her lips and then sat at Simon’s feet on the bed. She slid her hand down between her legs and touched that throbbing part of her. Gasping softly, River threw her head back as she rubbed her clit. It didn’t take her long to cum at the feet of her brother. Shuddering, River redressed Simon, dressed herself, and then curled up tightly against him, softly exhaling in contentment and falling asleep.

Some days later, Inara got a wave from a companion friend on a nearby planet. It was most definitely a trap. And Mal and Inara went, sprung the trap, and escaped, but Mal had to ask her as they flew back to the ship, “How did you have a flash bomb on hand?”

“There are several ways for a companion to be assaulted. We learn how to defend ourselves through physical combat, and we also learn how to defend ourselves through distraction in order to escape.” 

“Huh. Good to know.” They made it back to the ship in good time, knowing that the rest of the companions there were safe since they didn’t know anything.

When Jayne was shut down and the others went around the ship to search for River, Simon stayed at the door until River opened it. He caught her wrist and pinned her to the wall, strength overwhelming hers. “Use your words, River.” His eyes were intense. “Or should I use mine?”

She froze immediately and huffed. “Don’t put me to sleep. I know Miranda.”

“Right. What is it?”

“Planet. I know the location too.”

“Let’s log it then so we can see exactly what’s happening.” She nodded and hurried with him to the cockpit. “And next time, River, don’t attack me. Don’t ever attack me.”

“Serum changes minds. Does the bad leader know?”

“Nope.” Simon swallowed. “But the changes are clearly in effect now. You can see them. He’s more focused and less emotional.”

“Not Wash.”

“Wash is…a strange one.” Simon snorted and then shook his head. “But the reflexes are there. He’ll find them out soon enough. He’ll find it easier to kill. Easier to do a lot of things.”

She nodded slowly and then started logging in the coordinates. Simon spoke when Mal arrived. “She knows where Miranda is. Jayne had his gun out and tried to kill her. You really need to talk to him about that.”

Mal leaned against the bulkhead. “I’ll do that sometime. And what’s Miranda?”

“A planet.” Simon watched as River pulled away and sat close to him, practically on his lap. “Huh, it’s pretty close by.”

It was quickly decided that going to Miranda was a very bad idea. And then…then they found the settlement of Book’s in ruins.

Simon stared around himself in growing disgust. “And they call River a monster. They call me a monster. Clearly, the Alliance are the monsters. Clearly.” He moved faster than a regular human could and ran from body to body. Everyone was dead. 

Everyone. 

“Doc! Book’s still alive!”

“Where?!” Simon was already running, outstripping all the others. He crashed beside Mal and Book. “Hold on, Book.” Simon pulled out a syringe and then withdrew some of his own blood before injecting it into the shepherd’s body. Hopefully, it was going to be a large enough dose.

“What are you doing?!” Mal gaped at him.

“We are perfect humans, Mal.” Simon started cleaning the wound and checking for regrowth. It was happening. He looked at Book. “You are healing. Just hold on! Hold on!”

When Book was stable and still healing, Simon motioned for Jayne to pick him up. “Get him to the infirmary. Everyone else! Check for survivors! Wash, Mal, be ready to lend some blood. Our white blood cells, our stem cells, both are automatic. They are universally acceptable.”

Wash blinked and stood up from a corpse. “We have super cells?”

Smirking darkly, Simon nodded. “Don’t ever get caught by the Alliance.”

“Noted.” Mal followed Jayne to the ship. Zoe was looking for everyone else who had taken them in, or helped them. 

Simon slumped against the counter of his infirmary when he heard the news. Everyone was dead. He looked up when Mal walked out. “Come outside! Now!” Simon hurried after him.

It soon became clear to Simon what Mal had planned. “You want to turn the Serenity into a Reaper ship?!” Simon crossed his arms and spoke over Kaylee’s rant about desecration. “That’s actually pretty smart. I’m impressed.”

Kaylee and Zoe stared at him in shock. Wash looked at Mal. “Do we have enough rope?”

Zoe stared at her husband. “What?!”

Cutting in, Mal started talking to those who were still balking at the idea. Simon whispered to Kaylee, “Cans and Can’ts, Kaylee. We have to get to Miranda, and camouflage is the only way to do it. Think of it this way, we are helping these murdered victims of the Alliance get one last crack at their killers. They are helping us give their attackers a really bad day.”

Mal pointed his gun at Simon. “That’s a good way of putting it. Now everyone, GET TO WORK!”

Time blurred, and before Simon really wanted to, they were cruising through Reaver territory. River was tense, no doubt picking up the thoughts and screams of the people in those ships around them. Simon pulled her against him and pushed his thoughts into her mind, a tune that he used to sing to her to help her sleep. She slowly uncoiled in his arms. When they landed on Miranda, Simon checked on Book, made sure he remained drugged, and then locked the place up tight. After that, he hurried out with the others once Zoe gave the all clear. They found the signal with no problem- except the general unnerving silence and dead bodies- and listened to the woman’s recording. 

Simon cursed to himself when he heard the serum name. G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate. “Mother _ fucker _ !” He dented the wall badly when he punched it. 

“I’m in general agreement with that statement.” Mal breathed out slowly. River vomited off to the side. Simon crouched beside her. After assessing that she was alright, he spoke up, cutting into the conversation.

“When the Blue Hands caught me and tried to get me to perfect the Psychic Surgery process, they also had me perfect a serum.” He pointed to the flickering image. “That serum.” He stared at Mal. “I didn’t give it to them. I escaped before they could demand it, but they’re searching for a way to perfect it. They’re wanting to repeat Miranda.” He stared at them all. Inara pulled Mal into her side and gave comfort as much as she sought it. He wrapped his arm around her waist. 

“And you know how to make this serum?”

“I know the one that these people got, and I figured out the one that the scientists had intended for these people. I stabilized it, and it will work. But they don’t have it.”

“They’ll try even without you, and they won’t stabilize it.” Zoe held onto Wash, face pale. She looked at Mal. “They’ll do this again.”

“Or they’ll hunt down Simon even harder since he knows the answer. Once they get that working serum out of him, then there’ll be no more independent thought. No more unrest, no more struggles against them. They will be completely in control of the entire galaxy.” Mal felt and looked sick.

“We have to warn the people.” Wash swallowed. “We have to let them all know what the Alliance is planning. Once the news gets out, then no one will trust them anymore.”

“That still won’t stop them from trying the serum.”

Simon shook his head. “They didn’t make any progress at all. They were re-opening the program with me. They’ll try hunting me down first, but we do have time. We need to cripple the Alliance by proving the existence of the Reavers and proving where they came from. Then, we deal with the fallout.”

Mal nodded grimly. “Right.” They began planning in earnest.

When the planning was done, Simon hurried to the infirmary while Mal and Wash got ready. He checked on Book and then exhaled slowly. “I surely hope you’ll live through this, old man.” He smiled softly and then strapped him in tight before fastening everything down in the infirmary. Everything that could move was locked down. All the drawers were sealed shut, all the machinery was strapped down. Jayne was doing the same thing in the cargo bay. 

When he was done, he fused the infirmary doors locked. If they were boarded, then no Reavers would get inside there. He also put a lot of food stuffs in so Book could survive. There was also a gun.

Jayne looked around. “You thought of everything.”

“Try to.” Simon swallowed and then looked at his hands with a laugh. “They’re shaking. I’m actually terrified this time.”

“Well, if anything should terrify you, then it’s facing down a fleet of Reavers.” Jayne slapped him on the back and hurried off. Simon went after his sister. They were going to strap themselves in on Mal’s command. 

“I’m not looking forward to this.” He grabbed River’s hand and looked at Inara. Kaylee was in the engine room.

Everything was completely silent for a long time and then-  _ “Everyone strap yourselves into something!” _

Simon grabbed Kaylee and then made sure River was secure before strapping himself in with the others in the lounge. He looked through the windows and watched Book. He was still drugged and doing fine. Those windows wouldn’t be broken by anything. He would be alright. Simon said so out loud. Kaylee nodded shakily and then screamed when the ship started falling.

Jayne pulled on the backup power, and Simon could feel them moving in less crashing and more falling with some control.


	16. Chapter 16

Wash grunted in surprise when he felt the spear shoot through him. 

“WASH!”

He waved her off and let Mal pull himself off the spear. His entire chest was almost ripped in half but it began to heal. Wash laughed weakly. “Well would you look at that. I’m an invulnerable leaf on the wind.”

Simon’s voice wafted up to them. “Incorrect word. Invulnerable means impervious to injury-”

“Shut up and leave me my moment!” Wash huffed and then kissed Zoe. “I’m fine, Honey Cakes. Let’s get out of here.”

“Where’s Book?!” Mal hurried past them all to Simon. 

“Sealed in the infirmary. They won’t be getting to him anytime soon, and all of them will be following us, so I think Book has a higher chance of surviving this than we do.” Simon shrugged suddenly. “Well, you, Wash, and I have a good chance of surviving a death, but we can still be captured and raped repeatedly and eaten alive again and again…” He looked at a nauseous Wash and a stricken Zoe. Inara looked terrified. 

Mal gave Simon a dark look. “One of these days, boy, you and I are gonna have a chat about sharing too much of your thoughts.”

Flinching, Simon nodded as he grabbed his bag. “Sorry.” River grabbed his free hand. 

“No capturing allowed. Can you die?”

“Bullet to the part of the brain that controls regeneration.”

“Where?”

“Stem.” Simon looked around and then nodded to Mal and Wash. “Brainstem, back of the head. Shoot there, and you’ll die. It’s the only thing that’ll kill us.”

Mal looked around as he herded everyone to find cover inside the building. Wash raised his own gun and pressed the muzzle against his neck experimentally. “Okay, I can do it to myself. Good to know.” Zoe yanked his hand down and stared at him with wide eyes. “I’m not planning on it, Honey, but-”

“Don’t!” She raised her hand sharply and then focused on giving them cover as they tried to outrun the Reavers.

When they found a spot to face the Reavers, Simon straightened. “I’m a faster fighter-”

“You’re also a doctor. Jayne, Kaylee, Zoe, and Inara, they don’t got that serum. You and Wash are the only last line of defense they have. You keep them alive, and protected. I can do this alone.” Mal stared at Zoe. “Don’t die. I’ll be right back. Don’t die! That’s an order!”

“Sir.” Zoe smiled grimly. Wash pulled her into a kiss before hurrying to grab the heavy crates all on his own. Jayne watched him and then scoffed. 

“I’ll be taking that serum after this shitshow.” Simon laughed softly as he started helping Jayne. 

Mal left them to it and hurried to the elevator. Simon silently wished him luck and then looked at River.

“How are you?” They were stationed behind the crates now. She looked at him.

“Clear headed.” Her eyes were clearer too. Simon felt relief and sadness war within him. They might all die today, and this was the day his sister actually started getting better. She looked around quickly. “I want a last wish.” She stared him and then shot another look around. “No one’s watching. I want you to kiss me. Like Wash and Zoe do.”

Simon looked at her and then looked around. “Last wish…River-”

“Please? Let me die with that.” Her eyes were wide.

“The chances of us dying are greatly less than the others-”

“Less logic and more kissing.” She moved closer to him. Simon looked around and then closed his eyes and pulled her closer, sliding his lips against her, pretending she wasn’t his sister, giving her something that she wanted, and then he pulled away. The kiss lasted 5.8 seconds, but to River it was a month of glory. She breathed out slowly and then smiled at him. 

“Thank you.”

“That will not be repeated if we survive.” Simon didn’t wait for her to respond as he turned away and started loading up the guns. Kaylee and Jayne were kissing also. She was crouched beside her boyfriend. Simon looked at Inara. 

“He’ll be fine. The Operative doesn’t know where to shoot him. No one knows except us.”

She swallowed. “I know. I’m actually more frightened for myself and for him being the only one coming out of this. What that would do to him…”

Zoe loaded another gun and spoke up. “It won’t happen, so don’t entertain the notion.”

When the Reavers broke through the door, Simon saw the exact moment Wash became mentally augmented. Zoe was wounded, and Wash jumped in and covered for her while Simon dropped his gun and picked up his medical bag. Wash flipped over the line in a move he shouldn’t have known how to pull off, before disarming two Reavers and taking their swords and starting to slice the ones around him. Jayne’s shouts for him to get back behind the line went ignored. 

“Wash! Zoe needs you!” Simon knew exactly what to do to get the man to heel. “We need to fall back!”

Moving fast, Wash decapitated three Reavers, dropped the swords and then rushed after them to the door. When it didn’t close, Simon looked at River as Jayne threw the grenade. She smiled at him tiredly and nodded. 

“We take care of each other and our family.” Her voice was soft. “We always take care of family.”

Simon looked at Inara. “My bag’s still out there. Kaylee needs it.” He quickly told her what to give Kaylee before jumping through after River. River tossed the bag while Simon closed the blast doors. Then they faced the truly ugly side of humanity.

~meanwhile~

Mal wasn’t having much fun. He remembered Simon saying that all pain would be significantly duller now, and that was a fact. He didn’t even flinch from being impaled. The fight was over pretty soon as he punched the guy in the throat with moderate strength. He didn’t want to tip his hand and skills after all. 

That done, he sent the code out and forced the Operative to see the truth of his ‘better world’. “That’s your precious Alliance, boyo.” Quickly, Mal hurried back to his crew, the only family he had left.

When he got down there, he only saw Inara, Zoe, Wash, Jayne, and Kaylee. “Where are the siblings?” He looked at them all. Zoe swallowed and leaned against her husband. “Where are Simon and River?”

The doors opened then. Simon looked at them with a smirk. “It was River’s idea to pose.” She stuck her tongue out at him. 

“Dramatic victories are supposed to celebrated with dramatic poses, Big Brother.” Her eyes were glowing.

And then the wall exploded inward. Simon turned slowly and stared at the guards. His eyes quickly checked how many and how to kill them all. River was doing the same thing. Simon relaxed when the soldiers relaxed. He moved towards his sister, stepping through the pools of blood. 

The days that followed were strangely…peaceful. The ship was being repaired. There was a funeral service for the people of Book’s village, and for Mr. Universe. River got reacquainted with the crew now that she was sane again. The Alliance soldiers actually helped them patch themselves up and the ship. Book woke up and was filled in on everything. He glowered at Simon. “And why did you drug me?”

“You were still convalescing.” Simon shrugged and then tensed when the Operative approached them. Simon turned and looked at the man while River jumped down from the top of the engine and stared at the man. 

Mal stepped in between the siblings and the Operative. 

“It’s not over, you know. I cannot guarantee that they won’t come after you. The Parliament. Your broadwave about Miranda has considerably weakened their regime, but they are not gone, and they are not…forgiving.”

“We know they’ll come after us.” Mal looked at Simon and then at River. “They didn’t just want her for her secrets. She’s still an asset, and so is Simon. But…what you say don’t bode especially well for you. Givin you ordered to let us go, patching us up.”

Simon looked at the man as he walked away after finishing his conversation with Mal. “He noticed your wounds are completely healed.” He looked at Mal. “He may be broken, but he isn’t stupid. He knows that you aren’t normal in your heal factor.”

“I know it.” Mal looked over at the slumped man. “I reckon this won’t be the last time we’ll be seeing them.” They entered the ship. Simon cleared his throat. 

“Mal, I was thinking, we could do guerilla warfare against the Alliance. You give fiery distractions while River and I go in and kill specific targets. We’ve weakened them now, and we need to keep them weak.”

Looking at him intently, Mal nodded. “I like that plan.”

Inara spoke up. “I can continue my companion job and collect information. Because of the order of silence in our union, they’ll never suspect me.” She grabbed Mal’s hand. “I’m in this now, Mal. I want to be in it all the way. With you. The Alliance is wrong. It shouldn’t be in power. The Independents should have won. They should have, and I want to do my part.” Mal kissed her intently. 

“Alright, but you need the serum.” He looked over at Zoe. “We all need the serum.”

Jayne barked a laugh from where he was with Kaylee on the catwalk. “Hell, I’m in.”

“I’ll get a batch ready for all of you then.” Simon smiled and walked away.

Wash coughed slightly. “Erm, Zoe and I were thinking of settling down a little and focusing on family. Once the kid is old enough we can come back and join you guys again…”

Mal chuckled and then looked at Zoe. “You finally convinced him?”

“Simon did. He said that if I took the serum and then had a child with Wash, our child would be genetically augmented simply by our DNA. It would have our healing and durability even in the womb. When I told Wash that, he said yes.” Zoe smirked. “We’ll be back, but until the kiddo is old enough, River is gonna take Wash’s job, and Simon is gonna take my job.”

Mal nodded and looked at the doctor. “Sounds okay. You stay safe.”

She smiled. “We most certainly will.”

“Okay then. River! You’re up for your first flying lesson! Wash, I’ll take this lesson. You focus on knocking up my first mate.” 

“We’ll be in our bunk!” Wash grinned and saluted him cheerfully, dragging an equally laughing Zoe to their bunk. 

Simon smiled as River ran up the stairs. Book watched the sister and then spoke up when the door closed. “Son, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Turning, Simon looked at Book in confusion. “What is that?”

“It’s about your sister.” Book pulled him to the side and began to speak earnestly.

**The End**


End file.
